Educational interventions on attitudes and beliefs about low back pain treatment in physical therapy students and physical therapists: a systematic review and meta-analysis
PURPOSE: To determine the effectiveness of educational interventions on attitudes and beliefs about low back pain (LBP) treatment in physical therapy students and physical therapists. METHODS: Electronic searches were conducted on January 14, 2026, in the PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Scopus, Epistemonikos, and LILACS databases. Randomised controlled trials involving physical therapy students or physical therapists that investigated the effectiveness of educational interventions to improve attitudes and beliefs about LBP were included. RESULTS: = 44.41%). CONCLUSIONS: Low-to-moderate certainty evidence suggests that biopsychosocial educational interventions improve LBP-related attitudes and beliefs among physical therapy students, though this effect is notably attenuated in practicing therapists. Further research should evaluate these interventions in practising physical therapists and their subsequent impact on patient-level LBP outcomes.
Authors
- Joaquín Calatayud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9056-4149)
- Joaquín Salazar-Méndez
- Felipe Ponce-Fuentes
- Iván Alejandro Cuyul-Vásquez
- José Atencio-Aguilar
Institutions
- Universidad Mayor (CL)
- Universitat de València (ES)
- National University of San Marcos (PE)
- Universidad Santo Tomás (CO)
- Universidad Católica de Temuco (CL)
- Universidad Santo Tomás (CL)
- Arturo Prat University (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Disability and Rehabilitation
- Published
- 2026-04-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2026.2650047
- Primary Topic
- Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00