Physiotherapists' perceptions on using a multidimensional clinical reasoning form during psychologically informed...

Area of Science:

• Physiotherapy
• Clinical Psychology
• Healthcare Education

Background:

• Effective clinical reasoning is crucial for implementing psychologically informed practice.
• Physiologically informed practice integrates psychological principles into patient care.
• Low back pain management benefits from a bio-psychosocial approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of a multidimensional clinical reasoning form (CRF).
• To explain the CRF's use within a psychologically informed practice training program for low back pain.
• To evaluate physiotherapists' perceptions of the CRF's utility.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with ten primary care physiotherapists.
• Data collected via pre- and post-training focus groups and individual interviews.
• Thematic analysis employed to identify emergent themes in the data.

Main Results:

• Before training, themes indicated a need for formal instruction and clarity on using the CRF.
• After training, physiotherapists perceived the CRF as a helpful framework for multidimensional clinical reasoning.
• The CRF and its definitions aided information elicitation and patient disclosure, providing a conceptual framework for complex cases.

Conclusions:

• The CRF is most effective as a training adjunct, not for standalone clinical use.
• Physiotherapists valued the CRF for enhancing critical thinking and personalizing patient care.
• The CRF supports a bio-psychosocial perspective in characterizing patient presentations.