Background: Previous qualitative research has listed trust as a component of the therapeutic alliance in physical therapy.
Objective: Quantitatively correlate trust and therapeutic alliance in physical therapy care for patients with chronic low back pain. The secondary aim was to investigate the relation of trust and therapeutic alliance with outcomes over the course of treatment.
Methods: The Primary Care Assessment Survey was used to measure trust and the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised tool measured therapeutic alliance. The patient recorded these measures after the initial visit and at discharge. Self-report patient outcome measures for pain, function, and global rating of change were also measured at the same time points.
Results: A strong correlation (rs = 0.747 and rs = 0.801) was found between trust scores and therapeutic alliance measures post-initial visit and at discharge, respectively. In addition, there were moderate to strong correlations between trust and therapeutic alliance scores with the various improved outcome measures of pain, function, and global rating of change.
Conclusion: There appears to be a connection between trust and therapeutic alliance along with improved patient outcomes related to higher trust and therapeutic alliance scores in a cohort with chronic low back pain.
Keywords: Trust; chronic low back pain; physical therapy; therapeutic alliance.