Table 1.
Content of physiotherapist questionnaires
| Concept | Measurement method | Details |
| Information recorded on individual physiotherapists (collected before and after the trial) | ||
| Physiotherapist's information | - year qualified - gender - current clinical practice setting - clinical grade of current post - current work status - satisfaction with employment situation |
community trust, acute trust staff/junior, senior II, senior I, extended scope practitioner/clinical specialist, superintendent/manager full time, part time very satisfied, satisfied, neither, unsatisfied, very unsatisfied |
| Use of acupuncture | - currently use it - length of time practising - use it for knee pain - member of AACP - previous training in acupuncture |
<1 year, 1–3 years, 3–5 years, 5+ years no, associate, basic, full, advanced |
| Beliefs about knee pain (section B) | adapted from [53] | 13 items on 7 point Likert scale: completely disagree to completely agree |
| Causes of knee problems | Illness Perceptions Questionnaire Revised (IPQ(R)) [54] | 1 dimension: causes |
| Beliefs and expectations about treatment | - most helpful treatments for managing chronic knee pain - most effective - expected general improvement with each of the trial treatment - expect improvement in pain, movement and function with each specific trial treatment |
OTC medication, prescribed medication, advice, exercise, acupuncture, rest advice and exercise, acupuncture, sham acupuncture 11 point numerical rating scale (NRS) 4 point scale: of great help, of some help, of little help, of no help |
| Information recorded on individual patients (collected prior to randomisation) | ||
| Therapists perception of patients' knee severity | 5 point Likert scale | |
| Therapists prediction of likely outcome of patient's knee problem | 5 point Likert scale | |
| Therapists treatment preference for the patient | advice and exercise, acupuncture, no preference | |
| Therapists expectation of treatment benefit for patient | - expectation of degree of improvement for the patient with each of the available treatments - expectations for improvement in specific outcomes of pain, function, and movement |
11 point NRS/ 4 point Likert scale 11 point NRS/ 4 point Likert scale |