Attitudes of nurses, physiotherapy assistants and masseurs towards low back pain treatment

PURPOSE: We evaluated the attitudes of nurses compared to physiotherapy assistants and medical masseurs (PAMs) regarding various treatment modalities used in the treatment of low-back pain (LBP) as their opinions might influence the patients’ attitudes to therapy. DESIGN: Cross sectional self-reported questionnaire survey. METHODS: 175 Hungarian health care providers completed questionnaires evaluating their opinions on the importance of various therapeutic interventions and the need for initiation of LBP treatment. Their personal LBP history and fear-avoidance beliefs (FABQ) were also investigated. FINDINGS: The importance of exercise therapy (p = 0.024) and massage (p <  0.01) was evaluated higher by the PAMs, while medication (p = 0.04) was scored higher by the nurses. Those who experienced moderate or severe LBP were more positive about pain medication than to those with mild pain (p = 0.048). Years in health care work had only a weak association with opinions. The nurses reported more fear-avoidance beliefs than the PAMs about both physical activity (p = 0.024) and work (p = 0.021). Those who experienced moderate or severe LBP had higher FABQ scores (p = 0,076), however the difference was significant only for FABQ activity (p = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed that professional background and years of experience can influence the attitudes towards the importance of certain therapies, although these differences were small. Experiencing moderate or severe LBP increased the fear-avoidance beliefs about work and physical activity independently of the professional background. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Our study draws the attention to the importance of standardization of the information to be passed to the patients and to the need of discussing personal experiences and beliefs during professional training.