Physiotherapists' Attitude and Beliefs Towards Rheumatoid Arthritis and Its Treatment Selections
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ajhmn.1577Keywords:
Physical Therapy; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Attitudes and Beliefs; Manual Therapy; ElectrotherapyAbstract
Purpose: With the ever advancements in the methods of managing Rheumatoid Arthritis, there needs to be a quantifiable value to denote the general perception, but mainly attitude, and beliefs of physical therapists in clinical practice, to ensure optimum physical therapy interventions for disease management. This attitude and belief regarding different intervention methods represents the efficacy of the therapeutic plan of care of each therapist, and the efficiency of the individual method of therapy. The main objective of this investigation is to assess the attitude and beliefs of physical therapists toward Rheumatoid Arthritis and its associated treatment selection.
Methodology: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that significantly impacts the quality of life of affected individuals. Physiotherapists play a crucial role in the management of RA, yet there is limited research exploring their attitudes and beliefs regarding this condition and its treatment selection. Understanding physiotherapists' perspectives is vital for enhancing the care provided to RA patients. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapists towards rheumatoid arthritis and their treatment selection practices. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and data was collected from physical therapists having a minimum of 6 months of clinical experience working in private, and public hospitals, clinics, and rehabilitation centers in the cities of Gujranwala and Gujrat. A sample size of 366 physical therapists was selected for this study using non-probability convenience sampling. What are the attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapists regarding rheumatoid arthritis, and how do these attitudes influence their choices in selecting treatments for RA patients?
Findings: In this research study, the results suggested that the majority of respondent physical therapists showed a positive attitude and belief towards the use of Manual Therapy and Electrotherapy as a suitable method of intervention for the management of Rheumatoid Arthritis. A more favorable preference was found for Manual Therapy (38.78%), as compared to Electrotherapy (37.15%).
Recommendations: This research was carried out to record the attitudes and beliefs of physical therapists having clinical experience in managing patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The results test a positive attitude and belief towards using Manual Therapy and Electrotherapy. This research further found that physical therapists prefer using Manual Therapy slightly more compared to Electrotherapy for the management of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
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