Purpose: To investigate a possible correlation between sociodemographic variables and compliance to home exercise programs in patients who were under physical therapy care for a musculoskeletal system dysfunction. Subjects: 100 patients with musculoskeletal system dysfunction(s) generated from out-patient orthopedic clinics in the Broward and Dade county area. Methods: A 15 question self-generated survey was distributed to 200 patients. Questions pertained to, sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education level, income, employment status, and ethnicity), number of minutes prescribed by physical therapist to perform home exercise program, number of minutes actually performed, and methods for monitoring the performance of the prescribed programs. Results: No significant relationships were found between sociodemographic variables across compliance levels. Seventy percent of the patients were found to perform their home exercise program more than the time prescribed by their physical therapist. Chi-square analysis and cross tabulations revealed a significant relationship between the method for monitoring the performance of the home exercise program, "stored in memory," with compliance levels. Conclusion: Patients regardless of their sociodemographic variables, and those who monitored their home exercise program in their memory were noncompliant to their home exercise program by performing the program over the amount of time prescribed.
| Date of Award | Jan 1 1998 |
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| Original language | English |
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