2.5. Practice pattern
Eighteen interventions were included in this study (list of the interventions are in Table 1). We evaluated practice patterns in two different ways based on these interventions’ use frequency and evidence level.
Firstly, the respondents were asked to report the frequency of each intervention on a Likert scale from 1 to 3; with 1 indicating frequent use, 2 for occasional use and 3 indicating never use. We have also included additional ‘unknown intervention’ options for cognitive behavioral therapy, progressive relaxation, and mindfulness-based stress reduction, and interdisciplinary rehabilitation intervention. We sub-categories these 18 interventions into (i) not recommended (ii) partially recommended and (iii) recommended groups considering treatment guidelines for LBP 14–17,31–33. The frequency and percentage of the physiotherapists who used these eighteen different intervention options are used as the first way to explain practice patterns.
Secondly, to segregate practice pattern to the poor, moderate and good; we calculated points in the following way: (a) for not recommended interventions, physiotherapists were given 0 points for selecting frequent use, 1 point for occasional use, 2 points for never use; (b) for partially recommended interventions, never use selectors were given 0 points, while occasional and frequent selectors were given 1 point; (c) for recommended interventions, 0 for never use and unknown intervention, 1 for occasional use and 2 for frequent use. The total point was ranging from 0-28. The median, first quartile, and the third quartile of the points were 15, 13, and 17 respectively. Participants who scored equal and/or above the third quartile were categorized as a “good practitioner”, equal and/or below the first quartile were separated as a “poor practitioner” and finally, the physiotherapist who scored between first and third quartile was identified as a “medium practitioner” in this study.