Knowledge, attitudes and barriers to evidence-based practice among physiotherapy and rehabilitation students and physiotherapists

The concept of evidence-based practice is generally defined as the use of evidence together with professional expertise and patient preference. There is a need to improve the quality of health services, including Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Physiotherapists may not always provide evidence-based treatments. The World Confederation of Physical Therapy recommends that the physiotherapy curriculum prepare students for evidence-based practice. This thesis aimed to understand the knowledge and attitudes of physiotherapy and rehabilitation students and physiotherapists about evidence-based practices and to explore the problems and barriers to the application of evidence-based practices in the field of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. A total of 215 people, 139 of whom were physiotherapists and 76 students from the physical therapy and rehabilitation department, volunteered to participate in the study. In addition to the information such as gender, age, education level, field of work, type of work, year in the profession and fields of interest of the individuals who volunteered to participate in the study, a questionnaire was used to investigate knowledge, attitudes and barriers in evidence-based applications prepared by literature review. The obtained data were analyzed with the SPSS 26.0 package program. In our study, 58.27% of the participants reported that they received training on evidence-based practice. In our study, it has been seen that among the sources frequently preferred by physiotherapists in Turkey are research articles, personal experiences and books, respectively. The overwhelming majority of physiotherapists participating in our study argued that scientific evidence is a component that should be considered in clinical practice. A positive attitude towards the use of evidence-based practice was demonstrated in our study. Majority of the participants reported that they agreed with the understanding of research methods and designs in physiotherapy practice and that physiotherapists should apply treatments supported by evidence. In our study, it was found that physiotherapists saw high workload, lack of technical equipment, physicians directing the patient, time problems, lack of support and incentives, and lack of interest from managers as barriers to evidence-based practices, respectively. Studies on how evidence-based practices affect treatment outcomes and health costs may be of interest to health administrators and legislators. In this way, the attitudes and knowledge of physiotherapists and other health professionals can be developed by creating units and regulations for evidence-based practices in hospitals and other health institutions.