Perception of Purposeful and Recreational Smartphone Use in Physiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Perception of Purposeful and Recreational Smartphone Use in Physiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial - SMART-PT

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

DRKS

Registry ID

DRKS00023594

Enrollment

200

Registered

2020-12-21

Start date

2019-06-17

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2025-04-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

The participants were asked to imagine that they were undergoing physiotherapeutic treatment for back pain. After that, the participants were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions, in which they watched one of the videos.

Interventions

Group 1: purposeful smartphone use Group 2: recreational smartphone use by the physiotherapist Group 3: recreational smartphone use by the patient Group 4: no smartphone use (control condition)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: We will include participants who did not work as physiotherapists (or in a closely related medical field), have adequate German language skills, and are at least 18 years old.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: We will exclude participants who (1) work as physiotherapists (or in a closely related medical field), (2) have already been in physiotherapeutic treatment for back pain, (3) do not have adequate German language skills, (4) do not pass a manipulation check, (5) are not at least 18 years old.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
The aim of this study is to investigate how purposeful compared to recreational smartphone use (by a physiotherapist or by a patient) influenced the perception of a physiotherapeutic treatment situation. * Perceived professional and social competence (Willson & McNamara, 1982) will be assessed after the video (intervention) * Perceived empathic behavior will be assessed after the video (intervention) The scale was constructed for the physiotherapeutic context based on Neumann, Wirtz, Bollschweiler, Warm, Wolf, and Pfaff (2008) * Perceived attentativeness of the therapist (3 items) and the patient (3 items) will be assessed by self-created items after the video (intervention)	—

Measure

Time frame

The aim of this study is to investigate how purposeful compared to recreational smartphone use (by a physiotherapist or by a patient) influenced the perception of a physiotherapeutic treatment situation. * Perceived professional and social competence (Willson & McNamara, 1982) will be assessed after the video (intervention) * Perceived empathic behavior will be assessed after the video (intervention) The scale was constructed for the physiotherapeutic context based on Neumann, Wirtz, Bollschweiler, Warm, Wolf, and Pfaff (2008) * Perceived attentativeness of the therapist (3 items) and the patient (3 items) will be assessed by self-created items after the video (intervention)

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
* Evaluation of mobile use in physiotherapy will be assessed by 6 self-created items after the video (intervention)	—

Countries

Germany

Contacts

Public ContactMartina Bientzle

Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien

m.bientzle@iwm-tuebingen.de07071 979120

Outcome results

None listed

Source: DRKS (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026