ABSTRACT
Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has imminently been on the rise placing a huge negative impact on the health care system, and socio-economic status of developing countries of which Nigeria is part. Physical inactivity has been identified as one of the leading causes of NCDs globally, and physiotherapists are expected to be knowledgeable and well placed to promote health in this domain as well as other aspects as relates to lifestyle habits. Hence this study aimed to determine the knowledge, practice and needs of physiotherapists in providing health promotion for NCDs, in Edo state.
Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, which recruited 42 physiotherapists practicing at private and public health sectors within Edo state. A self-administered 32-item questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge, practice and needs of physiotherapists in providing health promotion for NCDs.
Result: More than half, 66.7% (n=28) of the participants had good knowledge and high level of practice of health promotion, and 95.2% provided health promotion while providing treatment. 81.0% (n= 34) believed they needed additional training to optimally provide health promotion for NCDs, although they considered their clinics/workplace adequate for health promotion (85.70%), only 19% use materials such as fliers for health promotion.
Conclusion: Physiotherapists practicing within Edo state have good knowledge and practice of health promotion for NCDs, however more attention should be given to disease prevention and health promotion in terms of enriching the undergraduate training curricular and continuous professional development programmes with more emphasis on NCDs.
Key Words: Non-communicable Diseases, Health Promotion, Physiotherapists.
