Background: Despite emphasis on patient centred healthcare, healthcare professionals have been slow to use validated measurements of patient satisfaction in physiotherapy practice. The aim of this cross sectional survey was to measure patient satisfaction with private physiotherapy in Ireland, for patients with musculoskeletal pain, using a previously validated survey instrument.

Background and Purpose. The purposes of this 3-phase study were (1) to identify the underlying components of outpatient satisfaction in physical therapy and (2) to develop a test that would yield reliable and valid measurements of these components. Subjects. Three samples, consisting of 177, 257, and 173 outpatients from 21 facilities, were used in phases 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Methods and Results. In phase 1, principal component analyses (PCAs), reliability checks, and correlations with social desirability scales were used to reduce a pool of 98 items to 32 items. These analyses identified a 5-component model of outpatient satisfaction in physical therapy. The phase 2 PCA, with a revised pool of 48 items, indicated that 4 components rather than 5 components represented the best model and resulted in the 34-item Physical Therapy Outpatient Satisfaction Survey (PTOPS). Factor analyses conducted with phase 2 and phase 3 data supported this conclusion and provided evidence for the internal validity of the PTOPS scores. The 4-component scales were labeled "Enhancers," "Detractors," "Location," and "Cost." Responses from subsamples of phase 3 subjects provided evidence for validity of scores in that the PTOPS components of "Enhancers," "Detractors," and "Cost" appeared to differentiate overtly satisfied patients from overtly dissatisfied patients. "Location" and "Enhancer" scores discriminated subjects with excellent attendance at scheduled physical therapy sessions from those with poor attendance. Conclusion and Discussion. In this study, we identified components of outpatient satisfaction in physical therapy and used them to develop a test that would yield valid and reliable measurements of these components. ͓Roush SE, Sonstroem RJ.

The purposes of this perspective article are: (1) to explore models of disability from the perspective of the academic discipline of disability studies (DS), (2) to consider the paradox of improving functional capacities while valuing disability as diversity, (3) to identify how physical therapy's use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) disablement model intersects with various disability models, and (4) to apply this broader understanding of disability to physical therapist practice, education, and research. The DS literature has been critical of rehabilitation professionals, particularly targeting the medical model of disability. In contrast, advocates for a social model of disability recognize disability as diversity. It is paradoxical for physical therapy to simultaneously work to ameliorate disability while celebrating it as diversity. The ICF biopsychosocial disablement model offers a mechanism to practice within this paradox and suggests that it is no longer sufficient to conceptualize disability as a purely individual matter that requires attention in isolation from the impact of the larger society.

Negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities are common in our society. Although these attitudes are not voiced readily, they are expressed in a variety of ways and serve as barriers to the full realization of human potential. Health care professionals hold attitudes toward persons with disabilities that are similar to those of society as a whole, and they may be actual perpetuators of this limiting practice. This article explores possible origins of negative stereotypes of persons with disabilities and how these stereotypes are reinforced through the media. Health care professionals play a special role in continuing them. Change can occur through increased awareness and a humanitarian desire to reach beyond labels.