The beliefs of healthcare students about the harmfulness of daily activities for their back: a cross-sectional study

Aim: To investigate the beliefs of healthcare students about how harmful common daily activities are perceived to be for their lower back. Method: A cross-sectional survey of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and General Nursing preregistration students in Ireland. Two hundred and forty two students completed the modified Photograph Series of Daily Activities survey to ascertain their low back pain beliefs. Beliefs were compared between those in different programmes using one-way ANCOVA (post hoc Bonferroni). Results: Physiotherapy students (n = 115) had significantly more positive beliefs (lower scores) than Occupational Therapy (n = 48) and General Nursing (n = 79) students (p < .001). No significant difference was found between Occupational Therapy and General Nursing students (p = .054). Males had significantly more positive beliefs than females (p = .043), while there were no differences according to low back pain status (p = .383). Conclusions: Physiotherapy students considered common daily activities less harmful for their lower back than Occupational Therapy and General Nursing students. Considering the relationship between low back pain beliefs and disability, negative beliefs among healthcare students need to be addressed. Healthcare students from different disciplines have different beliefs about the harmfulness of common daily activities for their own back. This has the potential to affect their practice and the outcomes of low back pain patients they encounter.