Clinical reasoning focused on clients’ behaviour change in physiotherapy : Development and evaluation of the Reasoning 4 Change instrument

With the recognition of the impact of lifestyle behaviours on health and the evidence of incorporating behavioural considerations in physiotherapy, there is a need to advance the clinical reasoning of physiotherapists. Clinical reasoning encompasses the thinking and decision-making processes guiding client management and is a core competency of physiotherapists. Enabling clinical reasoning advancements requires investigations in practice and education, which in turn require robust assessments. The overall aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate an instrument to study physiotherapy students’ clinical reasoning focused on clients’ activity-related behaviour and behaviour change. In study I, a conceptual model was developed based on exploration of existing research, theory and views of physiotherapists and students. The data resulted in the clinical reasoning model focused on clients’ behaviour change with reference to physiotherapists (CRBC-PT). Studies II and III included instrument development and evaluation in four phases. Phase 1 included determination of the instrument structure and item generation based on the CRBC-PT model, evidence in clinical reasoning assessment and existing measures. Phase 2 included cognitive interviews with students to assess item understanding and resulted in revisions of item problems and approval of feasibility. Phase 3 included a Delphi study with physiotherapists with expertise in behavioural medicine to evaluate item relevance. The findings demonstrated a high level of consensus regarding content relevance. The final version of the Reasoning 4 Change (R4C) instrument included four domains, namely, Physiotherapist, Input from client, Functional behavioural analysis, and Strategies for behaviour change. In phase 4, the reliability and validity of the instrument were evaluated. Physiotherapists with expertise in behavioural medicine and students responded to the web-based R4C instrument and the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists. The analyses showed ...