(Patient A) In many ways the themes were similar

between the two groups and overall both physiotherapists and patients found many aspects of the process helpful. The coaching process helped the focus of rehabilitation to stay on the patients’ expressed needs. This resulted in interventions being more in line with expressed desires. The physiotherapists described this focus resulting in a fresh perspective; for the patients, this focus on their expressed needs lead to greater sense of involvement. However the most striking difference relates to the emotional responses which were often in contrast to the physiotherapists’ own responses. Some examples of these contrasting perspectives are presented in Box 4. Physiotherapist description of the patient’s perspective Patient’s SCH 900776 datasheet perspective Actually to be honest, I was a bit concerned about how my client would actually respond to it. He has a lot of social things going on in his life… that aren’t so good… whether it unearthed stuff. (Physiotherapist A) I liked how it helped me to motivate myself… The whole thing was pretty cool. (Patient A) [This] was one of those situations where I just couldn’t see it fitting in and working… so it made the whole process quite difficult. (Physiotherapist D) She was positive and on my side … She seemed to get to selleck kinase inhibitor the heart of the matter … She seemed

to be more on board with fixing my problem. (Patient D) I don’t know if it would have added a whole lot [of value]. (Physiotherapist F) The goals we have set have helped generally in all areas of the things I do, not just in physio. (Patient F) Full-size table Table options View in workspace Download as CSV Overall the activity

coaching approach was considered to be useful and acceptable from to these rehabilitation patients. This framework was reported to promote interactions between physiotherapists and patients and gave greater insight for the physiotherapists into patients’ expressed needs and preferences. The process was also perceived to increase the active involvement of patients in the rehabilitation process and promote self-responsibility while also providing emotional support. Activity coaching therefore does appear to have the potential to support patient-centred practice and the development of the therapist-patient relationship, which has been linked to better outcomes for rehabilitation patients (Hall et al 2010, Pinto et al 2012) and improved satisfaction with care (Oliveira et al 2012). An unexpected finding from this study was the emotional discomfort experienced by physiotherapists. The historical school of thought underlying physiotherapy practice primarily is a ‘body as a machine’ or biomechanical discourse (Nicholls and Gibson 2010).