What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reasons for seeking health care and is costly to the health care system. Recent evidence has shown that LBP care provided by many providers is divergent from guidelines and one reason may be patient’s beliefs and expectations about tr...
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crspringernat:10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5 2023-05-15T17:23:02+02:00 What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study Hall, Amanda Coombs, Danielle Richmond, Helen Bursey, Krystal Furlong, Brad Lawrence, Rebecca Kamper, Steven J. Quality of Care Newfoundland and Labrador 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY BMC Public Health volume 21, issue 1 ISSN 1471-2458 Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5 2022-01-04T14:25:57Z Abstract Background Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reasons for seeking health care and is costly to the health care system. Recent evidence has shown that LBP care provided by many providers is divergent from guidelines and one reason may be patient’s beliefs and expectations about treatment. Thus, examining the nature of patient beliefs and expectations regarding low back pain treatment will help coordinate efforts to improve consistency and quality of care. Methods This study was a cross-sectional population-based survey of adults living in Newfoundland, Canada. The survey included demographic information (e.g. age, gender, back pain status and care seeking behaviors) and assessed outcomes related to beliefs about the inevitable consequences of back pain with the validated back beliefs questionnaire as well as six additional questions relating beliefs about imaging, physical activity and medication. Surveys were mailed to 3000 households in July–August 2018 and responses collected until September 30th, 2018. Results Fout hundred twenty-eight surveys were returned (mean age 55 years (SD 14.6), 66% female, 90% had experienced an episode of LBP). The mean Back Beliefs Questionnaire score was 27.3 (SD 7.2), suggesting that people perceive back pain to have inevitable negative consequences. Large proportions of respondents held the following beliefs that are contrary to best available evidence: (i) having back pain means you will always have weakness in your back (49.3%), (ii) it will get progressively worse (48.0%), (iii) resting is good (41.4%) and (iv) x-rays or scans are necessary to get the best medical care for LBP (54.2%). Conclusions A high proportion of the public believe LBP to have inevitable negative consequences and hold incorrect beliefs about diagnosis and management options, which is similar to findings from other countries. This presents challenges for clinicians and suggests that considering how to influence beliefs about LBP in the broader community could have value. Given the high prevalence of LBP and that many will consult a range of healthcare professionals, future efforts could consider using broad reaching public health campaigns that target patients, policy makers and all relevant health providers with specific content to change commonly held unhelpful beliefs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland Springer Nature (via Crossref) Canada BMC Public Health 21 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health |
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Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Hall, Amanda Coombs, Danielle Richmond, Helen Bursey, Krystal Furlong, Brad Lawrence, Rebecca Kamper, Steven J. What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
topic_facet |
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health |
description |
Abstract Background Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reasons for seeking health care and is costly to the health care system. Recent evidence has shown that LBP care provided by many providers is divergent from guidelines and one reason may be patient’s beliefs and expectations about treatment. Thus, examining the nature of patient beliefs and expectations regarding low back pain treatment will help coordinate efforts to improve consistency and quality of care. Methods This study was a cross-sectional population-based survey of adults living in Newfoundland, Canada. The survey included demographic information (e.g. age, gender, back pain status and care seeking behaviors) and assessed outcomes related to beliefs about the inevitable consequences of back pain with the validated back beliefs questionnaire as well as six additional questions relating beliefs about imaging, physical activity and medication. Surveys were mailed to 3000 households in July–August 2018 and responses collected until September 30th, 2018. Results Fout hundred twenty-eight surveys were returned (mean age 55 years (SD 14.6), 66% female, 90% had experienced an episode of LBP). The mean Back Beliefs Questionnaire score was 27.3 (SD 7.2), suggesting that people perceive back pain to have inevitable negative consequences. Large proportions of respondents held the following beliefs that are contrary to best available evidence: (i) having back pain means you will always have weakness in your back (49.3%), (ii) it will get progressively worse (48.0%), (iii) resting is good (41.4%) and (iv) x-rays or scans are necessary to get the best medical care for LBP (54.2%). Conclusions A high proportion of the public believe LBP to have inevitable negative consequences and hold incorrect beliefs about diagnosis and management options, which is similar to findings from other countries. This presents challenges for clinicians and suggests that considering how to influence beliefs about LBP in the broader community could have value. Given the high prevalence of LBP and that many will consult a range of healthcare professionals, future efforts could consider using broad reaching public health campaigns that target patients, policy makers and all relevant health providers with specific content to change commonly held unhelpful beliefs. |
author2 |
Quality of Care Newfoundland and Labrador |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hall, Amanda Coombs, Danielle Richmond, Helen Bursey, Krystal Furlong, Brad Lawrence, Rebecca Kamper, Steven J. |
author_facet |
Hall, Amanda Coombs, Danielle Richmond, Helen Bursey, Krystal Furlong, Brad Lawrence, Rebecca Kamper, Steven J. |
author_sort |
Hall, Amanda |
title |
What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
title_short |
What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
title_full |
What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
title_fullStr |
What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
title_full_unstemmed |
What do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? A cross-sectional study |
title_sort |
what do the general public believe about the causes, prognosis and best management strategies for low back pain? a cross-sectional study |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
BMC Public Health volume 21, issue 1 ISSN 1471-2458 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10664-5 |
container_title |
BMC Public Health |
container_volume |
21 |
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1 |
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1766110064009019392 |