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Healthcare provider back pain beliefs unaffected by a media campaign.

Werner EL, Gross DP, Lie SA, Ihlebaek C

Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Norway. loewern@online.no

OBJECTIVE: Healthcare providers play a key role in transmitting knowledge and beliefs about LBP to their patients. There are differences in back pain beliefs between the various professionals groups treating LBP patients. This study examined whether LBP beliefs changed among the healthcare providers exposed to a media campaign. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental postal before-and-after survey of health professional beliefs following a campaign aimed at improving beliefs about LBP in the general public, and which included specific interventions also towards the healthcare providers. SETTING: Two Norwegian counties, with a neighbouring county serving as control. SUBJECTS: A total of 243 doctors, physiotherapists, and chiropractors in primary care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Beliefs about LBP before and after exposure to the campaign. RESULTS: A total of 243 doctors, physiotherapists, and chiropractors answered the questionnaire in 2002 and 2005. A general tendency was observed for all providers to have beliefs more in line with guidelines in 2005 compared with 2002, irrespective of exposure status. Some baseline differences in beliefs between the professional groups were not only sustained but in fact seemed to increase from 2002 to 2005. This was particularly as regards LBP as a self-limiting condition. CONCLUSION: An LBP mass media campaign with educational initiatives aimed at healthcare providers did not result in important improvement in LBP beliefs of providers exposed to the campaign. Important differences were observed between beliefs of the different healthcare provider groups in their view of LBP.

Published 25 February 2008 in Scand J Prim Health Care, 26(1): 50-6.
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