Use of Mental Health Interventions by Physiotherapists to Treat Individuals with Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Scoping Review

Purpose: Physiotherapists work with people with chronic conditions and can act as catalysts for behavioural change. Physiotherapy has also seen a shift to a bio-psychosocial model of health management and interdisciplinary care, which is important in the context of chronic conditions. This scoping review addressed the research question "How do physiotherapists use mental health-based interventions in their treatment of individuals with chronic conditions?" Method: The Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases were searched, and a variety of study designs were included. Data were categorized and descriptively analyzed. Results: Data were extracted from 103 articles. Low back pain (43; 41.7%) and non-specified pain (16; 15.5%) were the most commonly researched chronic conditions, but other chronic conditions were also represented. Outpatient facilities were the most common setting for intervention (68; 73.1%). A total of 73 (70.9%) of the articles involved cognitive-behavioural therapy, and 41 (40.0%) included graded exercise or graded activity as a mental health intervention. Conclusions: Physiotherapists can use a variety of mental health interventions in the treatment of chronic conditions. More detailed descriptions of treatment and training protocols would be helpful for incorporating these techniques into clinical practice.