PHYSICIANS PERSPECTIVES ON MASSAGE THERAPY

OBJECTIVE To examine the knowledge, opinions, and referral behaviour o f family physicians with respect to massage therapy and to explore fac tors associated with referral. DESIGN A random, cross-sectional mailed survey. SETTING Alberta family practices. PARTICIPANTS Family physici ans (n=300). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A self-report survey was developed for the study. This survey contained questions about sociodemographic and practice characteristics, perceived knowledge of massage therapy, opinions about the usefulness and legislation (government regulations) of massage therapy, and referral behaviour. RESULTS Fifty-four percen t of physicians (n=161) completed the questionnaire. Sixty-eight perce nt of respondents indicated they had minimal or no knowledge of massag e therapy Despite this low level of knowledge, most (83%) believed mas sage therapy was a useful adjunct to their own practice. Moreover, 71% had referred patients to massage therapists and most (72%) perceived increasing demand from their patients for massage therapy. Approximate ly half of physicians surveyed supported government regulation of mass age therapy. CONCLUSIONS Physicians demonstrated a discrepancy between their knowledge of massage therapy and their opinions of, and referra ls to, the profession. Physicians who referred patients to massage the rapists generally held more positive opinions and had more knowledge o f the discipline.