Establishing Internal Consistency of the Attitudes to back Pain Scale (ABS-mp) in Indian Physiotherapists Bansal Nitesh1,*, Sharma Puja Chhabra2, Parasher Raju K3 1Research Scholar, Ansal University & Registrar, GD Goenka University, Gurgaon 2Professor, School of Management, Ansal University, Gurgaon 3Director/Principal, Amar Jyoti Institute of Physiotherapy, University of Delhi *Corresponding Author: Nitesh Bansal, Registrar, GD Goenka University, GD Education City, Gurgaon Sohna Road, Gurgaon-122103
Online published on 5 May, 2018. Abstract Introduction Low back pain (LBP) is reportedly one of the most common musculoskeletal problems that is managed by physiotherapists globally. It is observed that attitudes and beliefs of a clinician significantly impacts the management of LBP and consequently its outcomes. The attitude and beliefs to Back Pain Scale for Musculoskeletal Practitioner (ABS-mp) has been used to measure the attitudes and beliefs of clinicians towards the management of low back pain1, 2 and consists of two sub-dimensions: personal interaction and treatment orientation. However, as beliefs, attitudes and clinical practice are influenced by culture, psychological and social dimensions, the purpose of our study was as a first step to evaluate the internal consistency of the ABS-mp, prior to using it to measure attitudes and beliefs of Indian physiotherapists treating LBP, which consequently will help develop India specific treatment guidelines of the condition. Method The Self-administered questionnaire ABS-mp was sent electronically to total of over 250 Physiotherapists (PT) across the country. Two reminders were given at regular intervals to the physiotherapists to complete the questionnaire. 147 questionnaires, with a return rate 58% were compiled and analyzed using SPSS version 16. Internal Consistency was evaluated using Cronbach alpha coefficient. Results Of the 147 questionnaires 27 were discarded as participants had not answered all the questions. Around 55.5% of the physiotherapists from our sample worked in Inpatient as well as outpatient care setups. During their clinical time, 63.7% of the therapists treated six (6) or more patients/day, of which 67.1% patients had musculoskeletal problems. Approximately 65.1% of the therapists used a combination of manual therapy and electrotherapy to treat their patients and almost 77% of the therapists followed LBP guidelines. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for internal Consistency of ABS-mp was 0.746, with 0.754 for the personal interaction sub-domain and 0.76 for treatment orientation. Conclusion Overall the ABS-mp along with its sub-scales has good internal consistency. Hence this scale can be used to study attitudes and beliefs of clinicians towards LBP management in future cross sectional studies in Indian Physiotherapists. Top Keywords ABS-mp, Internal Consistency, Indian Physiotherapist. Top |