Level of knowledge on conservative management of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis among undergraduate students in healthcare: A scoping review

Background: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a three-dimensional deformity of the spine associated with pain and aesthetic changes. Various health care professionals may be led to evaluate and/or manage adolescents presenting AIS. There is no compiling of the studies evaluating the level of knowledge on AIS conservative management among undergraduate students in healthcare. Objective: To identify and map the current studies evaluating the level of knowledge of health profession students on AIS conservative management. Design: Scoping review. Methods: The search strategy was conducted in Scopus database. Three concepts were included: "Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis", "Knowledge" and "Undergraduate students studying in a healthcare field". Studies identification included (1) duplicates removing, (2) title and abstract screening, and (3) full-text screening. The quality of the included studies was assessed. Studies' characteristics were extracted, and results were summarized. Results: Searches yielded the identification of 245 citations. After duplicates removal and abstract screening, three full-text articles were identified. Following full-text review, two full-text articles were finally included. Both studies evaluated students in physiotherapy, but using distinct questionnaires. Both studies reported an unsatisfactory level of knowledge. Conclusion: Knowledge of future health professionals about the conservative management of AIS has been barely evaluated. Therefore, no conclusion can be drawn regarding the level of knowledge of undergraduate health professions' students on AIS conservative management. The development a standardized questionnaire to adequately assess this knowledge across institutions and professions is required.