PATIENT EDUCATION FOR LOW-BACK-PAIN IN GENERAL-PRACTICE

This comparative study of patient and general practitioner perceptions of patient education for low back pain (LBP) revealed significant dif ferences in perspective. It suggests that although some general practi tioners recognise the importance of patient education, they blame pati ents for its assumed failure as a management strategy. The patients in this study identified a range of reasons which explain their difficul ties in following prevention advice which relate to not only limitatio ns in themselves, but also to broader contextual factors over which th ey have little control. It is argued that both the inadequacy of curre nt professional assumptions and the contextual factors that influence patients' prevention behaviours need to be acknowledged as a first ste p towards improving patient education for LBP in general practice.