Patients' perspectives on planned interventions tested in the Otago MASTER feasibility trial: an implementation-based process evaluation study.
Daniel Cury Ribeiro, Amanda Wilkinson, Vander Gava and 2 others
PMID 38936312WHAT IT FOUND
Shoulder pain patients valued twice-weekly supervised sessions for building confidence and motivation, but struggled with confusing home exercise instructions and unclear scales.
They wanted to know which specific exercises actually helped their pain so they could keep doing them.
Key findings
01Participants valued frequent supervised sessions because they reinforced the importance of home exercises, increased confidence, and motivated them to increase exercise load.
02Patients found the logbook and questionnaire scales confusing due to unclear instructions and inconsistent scoring directions, which acted as a barrier.
03Clinicians' own skepticism about certain trial exercises was transmitted to patients, who shared similar doubts about the value of those specific movements.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 16 of the 25 eligible participants agreed to be interviewed, so the views of the nine who declined are unknown. Transcripts were not returned to participants for verification. The study explored perceptions of a feasibility trial, not a full-scale efficacy trial, so the interventions tested may change. Demographic information was limited to reduce burden, making it hard to assess sociodemographic bias.
Declared interests
None to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that twice-weekly supervised sessions are superior to other frequencies for treating shoulder pain. This study reports patient preferences and barriers within a feasibility trial; it does not compare clinical outcomes between different intervention schedules.