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The Approach of Physiotherapists in the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain and Comorbid Anxiety/Depression: Are There Any Differences between Male and Female Professionals?
Chiesa, M.; Nicolini, G.; Buoli, M. The Approach of Physiotherapists in the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain and Comorbid Anxiety/Depression: Are There Any Differences between Male and Female Professionals? Medicina2024, 60, 292.
Chiesa, M.; Nicolini, G.; Buoli, M. The Approach of Physiotherapists in the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain and Comorbid Anxiety/Depression: Are There Any Differences between Male and Female Professionals? Medicina 2024, 60, 292.
Chiesa, M.; Nicolini, G.; Buoli, M. The Approach of Physiotherapists in the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain and Comorbid Anxiety/Depression: Are There Any Differences between Male and Female Professionals? Medicina2024, 60, 292.
Chiesa, M.; Nicolini, G.; Buoli, M. The Approach of Physiotherapists in the Management of Patients with Persistent Pain and Comorbid Anxiety/Depression: Are There Any Differences between Male and Female Professionals? Medicina 2024, 60, 292.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Chronic pain is a prevalent condition that is frequently complicated by mood and anxiety disorders. Purpose of the present article is to identify differences in the management of patients with chronic pain and anxiety/mood disorders depending on the physiotherapists’ gender. Materials and Methods: An ad-hoc questionnaire was developed and sent to 327 physiotherapists by e-mail. The two groups identified by gender were compared by unpaired sample t tests for continuous variables and χ2 tests for qualitative ones. A binary logistic regression was then performed with factors resulted statistically significant at univariate analyses as independent variables and gender as dependent one. Results: Female physiotherapists exhibited a higher level of confidence than male physiotherapists in administering continued physiotherapy for patients affected by Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) (p=0.01), as well as for individuals who had previously engaged with a mental health professional (p=0.01). Furthermore, female physiotherapists believed that pharmacotherapy was less associated with motor side effects (p<0.01) and more frequently recognized the importance of a training to identify affective disorders (p=0.01) and the need of more education in mental health (p=0.01). The binary logistic regression model confirmed that female professionals were less likely to work as freelance (p=0.015) and were more confident in the prosecution of physiotherapy by patients with GAD (p=0.05). Conclusions: Female physiotherapists compared to male ones seem to be more comfortable with patients affected by mental conditions and to be more aware of the need of training on mental health. Further studies are needed to confirm the results of the present study.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Mental Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
