Table 2. Demographic and professional characteristics, and personal history of back pain of GPs, GPs' formation of and self-reported attitude about acute low back pain, and GPs' self-reported recommendations for chronic low back pain.
| Whole sample of GPs N = 709 | Intervention practices N = 340 | Control practices N = 369 | p-value (t-test or Chi2) | |
| Age mean (SD) | 48.0 (7.0) | 48.2 (6.6) | 47.9 (7.4) | p = 0.71 |
| Gender (M) | 563 (79.5%) | 269 (79.1%) | 294 (79.9%) | p = 0.80 |
| Years of practice | ||||
| <10 | 93 (13.2%) | 39 (11.6%) | 54 (14.7%) | p = 0.16 |
| 10–20 | 296 (42.0%) | 155 (46.0%) | 141 (38.4%) | |
| 21–30 | 279 (39.6%) | 129 (38.3%) | 150 (40.9%) | |
| >30 | 36 (5.2%) | 14 (4.1%) | 22 (6.0%) | |
| Environment of practice | ||||
| Rural | 216 (30.5%) | 116 (34.1%) | 100 (27.1%) | p = 0.10 |
| Urban | 390 (69.1%) | 222 (65.3%) | 268 (72.6%) | |
| Rural and urban | 3 (0.4%) | 2 (0.6%) | 1 (0.3%) | |
| Personal history of back pain | ||||
| Acute | 353 (49.9%) | 171 (50.4%) | 182 (49.3%) | p = 0.77 |
| Recurrent | 234 (33.0%) | 108 (31.9%) | 126 (34.2%) | p = 0.52 |
| Chronic | 102 (14.4%) | 52 (15.3%) | 50 (13.6%) | p = 0.49 |
| Self-limitation of physical activity for back pain | ||||
| Never | 215 (49.9%) | 96 (47.5%) | 119 (52.0%) | p = 0.61 |
| Rarely | 185178 (42.9%) | 90 (44.6%) | 95 (41.5%) | |
| Frequently | 23 (5.3%) | 13 (6.4%) | 10 (4.4%) | |
| Always | 8 (1.9%) | 3 (1.5%) | 5 (2.1%) | |
| GPs' education about back pain | ||||
| Education session on back pain in the last 3 years (yes) | 316 (46.4%) | 154 (47.2%) | 162 (45.6%) | p = 0.67 |
| GPs' attitude about back pain | ||||
| Specific information delivered (yes) | 586 (85.8%) | 281 (85.9%) | 305 (85.7%) | p = 0.92 |
| Recommended sick leave duration for acute back pain | ||||
| ≤3 days | 59 (8.4%) | 30 (9.0%) | 29 (7.9%) | p = 0.54 |
| 3–8 days | 570 (81.3%) | 266 (79.6%) | 304 (82.8%) | |
| >8 days | 72 (10.3%) | 38 (11.4%) | 34 (9.3%) | |
| Physical activities recommended during sick leave for acute back pain | ||||
| Bed rest | 37 (5.4%) | 17 (5.2%) | 20 (5.5%) | P = 0.13 |
| Rest | 454 (65.7%) | 204 (62.2%) | 250 (68.9%) | |
| Maximum bearable activity | 200 (28.9%) | 107 (32.6%) | 93 (25.6%) | |
| GPs' FABQ Phys score (range 0–24) | 9.6 (4.8) | 9.2 (4.5) | 10.0 (5.0) | P = 0.10 |
| GPs' FABQ Work score (range 0–42) | 17.5 (6.7) | 17.6 (6.7) | 17.4 (6.6) | P = 0.69 |
Values are numbers (percentages) or m±SD