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Understanding the barriers affecting psychologists’ adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines from a stakeholder standpoint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2019

Tahira Haider*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Debra Dunstan
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Psychologists’ adherence with evidence-based guidelines based on the biopsychosocial premise in the management of musculoskeletal injuries is influenced by the actions by General Practitioners (GPs), insurers, and injured patients’ actions. For data collection, we interviewed GPs (n = 6), insurers (n = 6), and injured people (n = 15) from the two personal injury compensation schemes in New South Wales. Thematic analysis yielded the following: GPs were reticent to access psychological services that represented a poor fit between their practice and treatment guidelines, insurers lacked trust in the validity of “secondary psychological injury” claims’. Injured peoples’ willingness to engage with treatment was impaired by a poor fit between the treatment guidelines and their experience of insurers’ and psychologists’ practices.

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Articles
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019 

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