An exploration of athletes' views on their adherence to physiotherapy rehabilitation after sport injury.

OBJECTIVE

To explore athletes' perceptions of the factors that they feel may affect their adherence to a physiotherapy intervention.

DESIGN

A qualitative design using semistructured interviews.

SETTING

Participants were interviewed at home or their athletic club.

PARTICIPANTS

8 participants, 5 men and 3 women with a mean age of 30.4 y.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis revealed 2 main categories of themes. The first relates to the athlete's perceptions of factors affecting his or her own adherence, with themes including the impact of injury, justification of adherence, and strategies used by the patient. The second relates to perceptions of the physiotherapist's impact on adherence, with themes relating to characteristics of and strategies used by the physiotherapist.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings demonstrate the importance of exploring patients' perceptions of adherence. A number of factors that affect adherence are identified, and strategies that may enhance adherence suggested.