Efficacy of an Online Educational Program to Change Back Pain Beliefs in Physical Therapists

Federal University of Minas Gerais

Status: Completed

Conditions: Low Back Pain

Treatments: Other: Online educational program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05661968

CAAE 60756422.6.0000.5149

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the efficacy of an online educational program for physical therapists to change back pain beliefs. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• What is the effect of an online educational program to change beliefs about the management of back pain in physical therapists?

A total of 106 physical therapists will be recruited for this study. Participants will be randomized into two groups: intervention and control groups. The intervention group will receive a 6-week online educational program including recommendations from international clinical practice guidelines for the management of back pain. The control group will not receive any intervention. The outcomes of this trial include beliefs about management of back pain and imaging exams and will be assessed at baseline and 6 weeks after randomization.

Enrollment: 106 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• must be a licensed physical therapist;
• currently managing patients with low back pain, regardless of the duration of symptoms, in clinical practice;
• if not currently managing patients with low back pain, participants must have treated at least one patient in the last month.

(Patients with low back pain are defined as those patients reporting pain between the lower border of the last vertebral ribs and the gluteal fold, with or without pain referred to the lower limb).

Exclusion criteria

• not having access or reporting difficulty in accessing the internet.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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106 participants in 2 patient groups

Online educational program

Experimental group

Description:

A 6-week educational program delivered online based on information and recommendations from international clinical practice guidelines for the management of back pain.

Treatment:

Other: Online educational program

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group will receive no intervention and will be instructed to follow their clinical practice normally.