Sammanfattning
Purpose: Examine whether a design and an outcome measure developed for research purpose
might be feasible and relevant for clinicians to evaluate and document effectiveness of
physiotherapy practice in primary health care in Norway.
Methods: The principles of Single Subject Experimental Design were followed implying to perform
repetitive measures of outcome variables before, during and after a treatment period. Outcomes were
measured by the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) which assesses a patient’s problems to
execute self-defined customized activities on a scale from 0-10. Afterwards the patients and
physiotherapists were interviewed about the feasibility and clinical relevance of the methods applied.
Results: Apart from performing assessments several times before treatment started, the
physiotherapists found the repetitive assessments easy to perform in practice. The graphs showed
the outcomes in an explicit and understandable way that could be used as guidance for doing
adjustments during the treatment course and communicate outcomes to others afterwards. Both the
patients and the physiotherapists meant it could be challenging to concretize the activities mirroring
the treatment targets. How-ever, it could also promote communication and collaboration about
reaching a shared treatment goal.
Conclusion: Application of the PSFS and performing assessment at start of treatment period, several
times during a treatment course, and after completed treatment seems to be a way for clinicians to
evaluate and document effectiveness of their clinical practice