Physiotherapists Lack Knowledge in Mental Health: A Survey of Knowledge and Attitudes of Physical Therapists About Their Role in Mental Health

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic Data

Demographic	N	%
Gender
Female	127	61%
Male	81	39%
Years of experience as a physiotherapist
Less than 2 years	51	25%
2–5 years	52	25%
5 −10 years	44	21%
More than 10 years	61	29%
Highest educational level
Bachelor	101	49%
Master degree	52	25%
Doctor of physical therapy	38	18%
Doctoral degree (PhD)	17	8%
In which region do you work
Central region	132	64%
Eastern region	26	13%
Northern region	11	5%
Western region	29	14%
Southern region	10	5%
What is your main practice setting
Home setting	6	3%
Inpatient setting	39	19%
Non-clinical	9	4%
Outpatient setting	154	74%
Current primary area of professional practice
Cardiovascular rehabilitation	4	2%
Gerontology	3	1%
ICU	2	1%
Musculoskeletal	98	47%
Neurological	36	17%
Nin Clinical	4	2%
Pediatrics	19	9%
Sport injuries	18	8%
Women’s health	7	3%
Other	17	8%
Primary workplace
Private clinic	42	20%
Public hospital	83	40%
Rehabilitation center	19	9%
Specialized center	6	3%
University hospital	15	7%
Other	43	21%
Do you have previous experience working in a mental health setting?
Yes	30	14%
No	120	58%
Limited experience	58	28%
What proportion of your caseload includes people with mental illness?
All cases	10	5%
Approximately half	28	13%
Do not know	18	9%
Less than one quarter	106	51%
More than half	14	7%
None	32	15%
The people with mental illness in your clinical practice were
Incidental cases	50	24%
Not applicable	48	23%
Referred case – general practitioner	84	40%
Referred case – mental health professional	26	13%
Did you receive any psychology courses as a part of your academic study?
Yes	148	71%
No	46	22%
I am not sure	14	7%

Note: Reprinted with permission from Andrew E, Briffa K, Waters F, Lee S, Fary R. Physiotherapists’ views about providing physiotherapy services to people with severe and persistent mental illness: a mixed methods study. J Physiother. 2019;65(4):222–229.2. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.²

Table 2 Bloom’s Knowledge and Attitude Scores

	N	%
Knowledge:
High	46	22%
Moderate	58	28%
Poor	104	50%
Attitude:
Positive	99	48%
Neutral	84	40%
Negative	25	12%

Note: Reprinted with permission from Andrew E, Briffa K, Waters F, Lee S, Fary R. Physiotherapists’ views about providing physiotherapy services to people with severe and persistent mental illness: a mixed methods study. J Physiother. 2019;65(4):222–229.2. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.²

Table 3 The Impact of Demographic Data on the Knowledge and Attitude Score

Variable	Knowledge				Attitude
	High	Moderate	low	P-value	Positive	Neutral	Negative	P-value
Age (mean ± SD)	30.5±7.54	31.7±6.60	31.9 ±7.62	0.0554	30.5±6.3	32.6±7.8	31.9±8.6	0.1501
Gender (n%)				0.0150				0.1478
Female	33 (26%)	37 (29%)	57 (45%)		67 (53%)	45 (35%)	15 (18%)
Male	13 (16%)	21 (26%)	47 (58%)		32 (40%)	39 (48%)	10 (12%)
Years of experience as a physiotherapist (n%)				0.0001*				0.3628
Less than 2 years	22 (43%)	9(34%)	20 (39%)		30 (59%)	15 (29%)	6(112%)
2–5 years	2(4%)	19 (36%)	31 (60%)		27 (52%)	20 (39%)	5(10%)
5 −10 years	11 (25%)	15 (34%)	18 (41%)		19 (36%)	21 (48%)	7(16%)
More than 10 years	11 (18%)	15 (18%)	35 (39%)		26 (43%)	28 (46%)	7(12%)
Highest educational level (n%)				0.2568				0.1185
Bachelor	20 (20%)	26 (24%)	55 (54%)		45 (45%)	41 (41%)	15 (15%)
Master degree	10 (19%)	12 (23%)	30,589%)		19 (37%)	27 (52%)	6(12%)
Doctor of physical therapy	11 (29%)	13 (34%)	14 (37%)		25 (66%)	10 (26%)	3(8%)
Doctoral degree (PhD)	4(29%)	7(41%)	5(29%)		10 (59%)	6(35%)	1(6%)
In which region do you work (n%)				0.0309*				0.1415
Central region	31 (24%)	40 (30%)	61 (46%)		66 (50%)	52 (39%)	14 (11%)
Eastern region	2(8%)	9(34%)	15 (58%)		13 (50%)	7(27%)	6(23%)
Northern region	1(9%)	0	10 (90%)		4(36%)	5(46%)	2(18%)
Western region	9(31%)	6(21%)	14 (48%)		9(31%)	17 (59%)	3(10%)
Southern region	3(30%)	3(30%)	4(40%)		7(70%)	3(30%)	0
What is your main practice setting (n%)				0.5913				0.4432
Home setting	2(33%)	0	4(67%)		3 (50%)	2 (33%)	1 (17%)
Inpatient setting	7(18%)	11 (28%)	21 (54%)		14 (36%)	22 (56%)	3(8%)
Non-clinical	2(22%)	3(33%)	4(44%)		4 (44%)	3 (33%)	2 (22%)
Outpatient setting	35 (23%)	44 (29%)	75 (49%)		78 (50%)	57 (37%)	19 (12%)
Do you have previous experience working in a mental health setting (n%)				0.4093				0.3142
Yes	4(13%)	8(27%)	18 (60%)		17 (57%)	11 (37%)	1 (7%)
No	29 (24%)	37 (31%)	54 (45%)		53 (44%)	48 (40%)	19 (16%)
Limited experience	13 (22%)	13 (22%)	32 (55%)		29 (50%)	25 (43%)	4 (7%)
What proportion of your caseload includes people with mental illness (n%)				0.0935				0.0143*
All cases	1(10%)	2(20%)	7(70%)		3 (30%)	5 (50%)	2 (20%)
Approximately half	9(32%)	7(25%)	12 (32%)		19 (68%)	8 (29%)	1 (4%)
Do not know	3(17%)	10 (55%)	5(28%)		10 (56%)	7 (39%)	1 (6%)
Less than one quarter	27 (26%)	30 (46%)	49 (28%)		56 (53%)	38 (36%)	12 (11%)
More than half	2(14%)	3(21%)	9(64%)		2 (14%)	10 (71%)	2 (14%)
None	4(13%)	6(19%)	22 (69%)		9 (28%)	16 (50%)	7 (22%)
The people with mental illness in your clinical practice were (n%)				0.0989				0.40698
Incidental cases	12 (24%)	18 (36%)	20 (40%)		28 (56%)	19 (38%)	3 (6%)
Not applicable	11 (23%)	12 (25%)	225 (52%)		23 (48%)	17 (35%)	8 (17%)
Referred case – general practitioner	21 (25%)	24 (29%)	39 (46%)		23 (45%)	34 (40%)	12 (14%)
Referred case – mental health professional	2 (8%)	4 (77%)	20 (15%)		10 (39%)	14 (54%)	2 (8%)
Did you receive any psychology courses as a part of your academic study (n%)				0.0017*				0.0135
Yes	41 (28%)	37 (25%)	70 (47%)		72 (49%)	57 (39%)	19 (13%)
No	5 (11%)	12 (20%)	29 (60%)		20 (44%)	20 (43%)	6 (13%)
I am not sure	0	9 (64%)	5 (35%)		7 (50%)	7 (50%)	0

Notes: *significant p-value < 0.05. Reprinted with permission from Andrew E, Briffa K, Waters F, Lee S, Fary R. Physiotherapists’ views about providing physiotherapy services to people with severe and persistent mental illness: a mixed methods study. J Physiother. 2019;65(4):222–229.2. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.²

Andrew E, Briffa K, Waters F, Lee S, Fary R. Physiotherapists’ views about providing physiotherapy services to people with severe and persistent mental illness: a mixed methods study. J Physiother. 2019;65(4):222–229. doi:10.1016/j.jphys.2019.08.001

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