Australian physiotherapists attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours towards psychosocial screening tools: a qualitative interpretive description study

Purpose: Psychosocial factors are a barrier to recovery for people with musculoskeletal pain and psychosocial screening tools are consistently recommended by best practice guidelines to assist in identification. However, many physiotherapists do not use these tools. Presently, the perspectives on psychosocial screening tools of Australian physiotherapists are unknown. Exploration of these factors may create targets for increased uptake. The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively explore Australian physiotherapists' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours towards psychosocial screening tools for musculoskeletal pain conditions. Materials and Methods: An Interpretive description qualitative study design was employed. Seventeen Australian physiotherapists were interviewed about their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours towards psychosocial screening tools. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed according to interpretive description. Results: Analysis highlighted three major themes: (1) understanding the patient through psychosocial screening, (2) confidence and competence with psychosocial factors, and (3) factors outside of my control influence screening. Conclusions: This study presents a deeper understanding of Australian physiotherapists' diverse attitudes and practices regarding psychosocial screening tools. The research highlights not only the variability in perspectives towards the relevance of psychosocial factors in patient assessments, but also the influence of external elements such as patient demographics and clinic culture on the utilization of these screening methods. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Australian physiotherapists' varying attitudes and limited understanding of the impact of psychosocial factors may hinder the use of recommended psychosocial screening. Concerns about scope of practice, tool appropriateness for different patients, and clinic culture further challenge the integration of psychosocial assessments. The findings from this study indicate the need to provide more education to Australian physiotherapists on the importance and use of psychosocial risk factor screening, as part of clinical care standards and best practice guidelines in the management of patients, with musculoskeletal pain conditions. The findings from this study can support the creation of targeted training/innovations to improve the uptake of screening tools in Australian musculoskeletal clinical practice, to improve the care of patients with musculoskeletal pain conditions.