Therapeutic expectancy in physiotherapy

ABSTRACT

In health sciences, including physical therapy, communication techniques are a critical part of the success in the therapeutic process. Managing the patient’s beliefs, perceptions, and the narrative of their problems, becomes an essential part of the therapeutic process. This is the key to achieving real changes regarding how the patient copes with pain, illness, dysfunction, as well as the ability to develop adequate resources for facing them. We call this “Therapeutic expectancy” a new concept that originates from the well-known Therapeutic alliance and incorporates practices from the field of Motivational interviewing and Strategic dialogue. The Therapeutic expectancy starts from the first interaction with the patient and continues throughout the different stages of the therapeutic process. This article describes the structure of the relationship with the patient and some verbal communication techniques to generate an effective physical therapist-patient interaction, building Therapeutic expectancy, through a “centered on the patient’s narrative” strategy. Expectancy constitutes a desirable goal in any patient and in any pathological condition as it pursues a change in an individual’s perception of their state of health, thereby enhancing the desire for healing and empowerment.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication techniques
• therapeutic alliance
• therapeutic expectancy
• patient’s narrative
• patient-physiotherapist relationship

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks to Nicole Moy PT for reading, reviewing, and proofreading this paper. Without her help it would not have been possible to achieve such a clear and understandable text. Her talent and generosity are invaluable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.