Evidence-Based Practice: Beliefs, Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills Among Colombian Physical Therapists

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to describe a group of Colombian physical therapists' beliefs and attitudes towards Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), their education, knowledge and skills for implementing EBP, the use of relevant literature in clinical practice, access to and availability of scientific information and perceived barriers to including EBP in practice.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which involved 1,064 Colombian physical therapists. The study used a 50-item screening questionnaire EBP developed to estimate attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and skills regarding. This instrument has been adapted and was validated previously in Colombia by Flórez-López et al. Results: The population mostly consisted of young females (77.2%) aged 22 to 29 years old (79.4%). Most respondents had an undergraduate degree (87.7%). The physical therapists stated that they had positive attitudes and beliefs regarding EBP, most of them answering that they agreed or strongly agreed that EBP is necessary (71.6%), the relevant literature is useful for practice (61.3%), EBP improves the quality of patient care (64.1%) and evidence helps in decision-making (44.5%). Forty-one percent of the respondents indicated that a lack of research skills was the most important barrier to the use of evidence in practice. Conclusion: The physical therapists reported that they had a positive attitude to EBP and were interested in learning about or improving the skills necessary to adopt EBP in their clinical practice.

The tensions between micro-, meso- and macro-levels: physiotherapists’ views of their role towards fall prevention in the community – a qualitative study

“…Our findings support the proposal of Snöljung and Gustafsson [40], who note that the barriers encountered by PTs in their implementation of EBP may be related to a lack of expertise and a limited understanding of scientific research. Further, in accordance with our findings, previous studies have also shown that most PTs are interested in improving their EBP skills and that they have a positive attitude towards EBP [41,42].…”

Barriers against incorporating evidence-based practice in physical therapy in Colombia: current state and factors associated

“…Although reliable national data regarding the profile of Colombian PTs is currently lacking, it can be considered that our sample was fairly representative of most practitioners as has been previously described among physical therapists [ 9 – 22 ]. This study has provided a clear rationale for the further development of methods for identifying barriers among Colombian PTs.…”

“…In Latin-American, these discrepancies may be explained by differences in level of academic preparation and access to educational initiatives (e.g. not all professionals have access to a professional development programme) [ 11 , 12 , 21 , 22 ]. Lastly, although Colombian PTs may believe EBP is important, they may not feel it istheir responsibility to undertake all its steps.…”

“…This research involved using a cross-sectional survey whose descriptive design involved a web-based questionnaire; the questionnaire was based on previously published literature [ 6 – 10 , 22 ]. The methods and results have been reported according to the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys [ 25 ].…”

Evidence‐based physiotherapy clinical practice in the public health‐care service in Ecuador

“…The main purpose of the study was to screen about EBP in physiotherapy in Ecuador in the public health‐care service. Based on the null evidence available on the topic locally, researches considered the study as the first of this kind being carried out in the country, not so in other countries and regions with similar contexts as the case of Colombia, where Ramírez‐Vélez et al () concluded that physiotherapy professionals expressed a positive attitude about EBP coinciding with most of the controversial results found through this study, where basically in all questions, subjects expressed knowledge, interest, and motivation in relation to EBP in physiotherapy.…”