Physical Therapists' Assessment of Patient Self-Efficacy for Home Exercise Programs.
Kelsey J Picha, Alison Snyder Valier, Nicholas R Heebner and 4 others
PMID 33604149WHAT IT FOUND
A majority of surveyed physical therapists said self-efficacy matters for home exercise programs, but they usually judged it by talking or watching, not patient-reported scales, and those who did not assess often said they did not know how.
Key findings
0158% of PTs rated self-efficacy very or extremely important for adherence, while lack of time was ranked as the most commonly observed barrier and low self-efficacy was ranked fifth of eight barriers.
0271% (329/462) of PTs said they assess patient self-efficacy before prescribing a home exercise program; half used verbal discussion, 38% used observation, and 10% used patient self-report questionnaires.
03Among 170 barriers reported by PTs who did not assess self-efficacy, 39.4% were not knowing how to assess it and 19% were not knowing what to do with the information.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The response rate was low: 462 of 17730 invited PTs completed the survey (2.6%). Participants were recruited through one orthopaedic PT academy, so results may not apply to PTs in other settings or specialties. Findings are based on self-reported habits, not observed clinical behavior or patient outcomes. The survey did not test whether assessing or addressing self-efficacy improves adherence. Many PTs reported using verbal discussion or observation to assess self-efficacy, but the paper notes these methods were not identified as reliable or valid. Because the survey used branching logic, not all respondents answered every question, and the analysis did not examine how the eight barriers overlap.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest to disclose. No funding source is stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that assessing self-efficacy improves home exercise adherence. This survey only describes PTs' reported practices, and it notes that verbal discussion and observation were not identified as reliable or valid assessment methods.