Knowledge, attitude & perception toward mental health among the physiotherapists at CRP

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and perception about mental health among the physiotherapists at Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed. The study was also conduct to know the perception of physiotherapists’ about role of physiotherapy in mental health and find out the importance and recommendation for guideline to manage the patient with mental illness from physiotherapists’ view. Methodology: A mixed study design was chosen to complete the study. Attitude to Psychiatry-30 questionnaire was chosen to know participant’s attitude and for the qualitative part a self-administered questionnaire was used to understand their knowledge and perception. Quantitative data was analyzed by using SPSS software version 22 and qualitative content was analysis to formulate thematically. Total 25 physiotherapists from the department of physiotherapy, CRP, Savar were participated based on eligibility criteria. Result: The study has explored that the physiotherapists’ attitude toward psychiatry is mostly positive 84% (n=21) and negative only 16% (n=4) and there is no association between participants socio-demographic with their ATP score. The finding of the qualitative contents showed, though there are some limitation in the knowledge of the physiotherapists’ about mental health but most of them had affirmative agreement about their role in management of mental health conditions. They required an evidence based guideline and assessment to diagnose and manage the mental health. They also recommends cognitive behavior therapy and group based exercise program to manage mental health conditions. Conclusion: The study provides a snapshot of physiotherapists’ knowledge, attitude and perspective about mental health. Here, researcher tried to find out the perspective of physiotherapists about their role in management of mental health conditions related to physical pain or trauma. Though the study had some limitation this is the first study in Bangladesh about physiotherapists’ perspectives about mental health and the result is supported by some other study from different countries. Key words: Knowledge, Attitude, Perception, Mental health, Physiotherapist. ABSTRACT 1