PERCEPTIONS OF PATIENT-CENTRED CARE AMONG PHYSIOTHERAPISTS AND PATIENTS IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

O.A. Olaleye¹, J.P. Olley²

¹College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Department of Physiotherapy, Ibadan, Nigeria, ²University College Hospital, Department of Physiotherapy, Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Patient-Centred Care (PCC) is a concept of care that focuses on meeting patients’ needs, prioritizing patients’ values and preferences and optimising patients’ experiences of care. It is a core principle of healthcare services for people with long term conditions. Though not frequently implemented, it is an important indicator of quality of healthcare. Yet, ambiguity and uncertainty surround the concept of PCC and its implementation in physiotherapy. Conceptualization of PCC is related to culture, and influences how PCC initiatives are developed and implemented. Therefore, applying themes from one country and culture to another is inappropriate. It is critical to assess practitioners' and patients' perspectives about PCC in order to effectively investigate its conceptualization and implementation in clinical practice. This is key to identifying any discrepancies between patients' and practitioners' perspectives that may have an impact on the implementation of PCC.

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of Physiotherapists, and patients with neurological conditions in South-west, Nigeria, about PCC.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study of purposively recruited physiotherapists, and patients with neurological conditions in South-West, Nigeria. The clinician, and patient versions, of the Patient Perception of Patient Centeredness Questionnaire (PPPCQ) were used to assess perception of PCC among physiotherapists and patients respectively. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the perception of PCC between Physiotherapists and patients. The level of significance was set at p< 0.05.

Results: 110 Physiotherapists and 145 patients participated in the study. The Physiotherapists who participated in the study were mostly females (n=56; 50.9%), and their mean age was 34.74±7.42years. Patient participants were aged 53.63±15.62years, and were majorly males (n=86;5 9.3%). Physiotherapists had higher perception scores than patients in all three domains of the PPPCQ: the care process (3.42±0.56 Vs 3.18±0.82), patient-clinician relationship (3.47±0.56 Vs 3.27±0.79), and finding common grounds (3.56±0.55 Vs 3.16±0.82). There were no significant differences between physiotherapists’, and patients’ perception of the care process, and patient-clinician relationship (p>0.05). There was however, a significant difference between physiotherapists’, and patients’ perception of finding common ground (p< 0.01).

Conclusions: Physiotherapists and patients in South-west, Nigeria had a high perception of patient-centredness of physiotherapy. However, patients’ perceptions of practice of patient-centredness was lower than Physiotherapists’ perceptions, especially in the finding common ground domain.

Implications: As care recipients, patients’ views of the concept of PCC is important to satisfaction with care and improved clinical outcomes. The findings from this study underscores the need for physiotherapists to review their practices of shared decision making and collaboration, as this may improve patients’ perception of the finding common ground domain.

Funding acknowledgements: No funding was received for the study.

Keywords:
Patient-centred care
Physiotherapy
Neurological conditions

Topics:
Professional practice: other
Service delivery/emerging roles
Neurology

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Ibadan/University College Hospital

Committee: UI/UCH Ethics Committee

Ethics number: UI/EC/21/0353