Characteristics of physiotherapy sessions from the patient's and therapist's perspective

Purpose: The purpose was to explore, describe and compare the characteristics of physiotherapy sessions with patients after stroke from two perspectives: the patients' and the physiotherapists', in relation to observed behaviour. Methods: A qualitative, descriptive, comparative approach was used. Nine patients and 10 physiotherapists participated. Data from observations and semi-structured interviews were used. Results: Six themes were identified: setting and attaining goals, focusing on motor activity, finding the optimal training strategy, facilitating active patient involvement, making use of environmental factors and adjusting to the structural reorganization of the rehabilitation services. The physiotherapists and the patients made similar descriptions in some of the themes but differed in some. The physiotherapists expressed what they perceived to be their lack of scientific knowledge, while the patients trusted their physiotherapists' competence. The physiotherapists wanted to take the patients' personal experiences into account in the sessions, which was not obvious to the patients. Conclusion: Differences in physiotherapists' and patients' descriptions of characteristics of physiotherapy sessions have to be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In order to empower the patient to take a more active part in the rehabilitation process, there is a need to explore how to incorporate the patients' personal experiences and knowledge into the rehabilitation process.