Sabot Raffaele (School of Physiotherapy, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy)
Mihailov Catalin Irinarh (School of Physiotherapy, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy)
Francesco Boninsegna (School of Physiotherapy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.)
Andrea Turolla (Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Alma Mater University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. )
Paolo Pillastrini (Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Alma Mater University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. )
Gianola Silvia (Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milano, Lombardia, Italy.)
Castellini Greta (Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milano, Lombardia, Italy.)
Giacomo Rossettini (School of Physiotherapy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.)
Manuela Deodato (School of Physiotherapy, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy)
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a branch of advanced technology aimed to perform tasks usually required of human intelligence1,2. Recent evidence has examined the potential support of AIChatbots in the physiotherapist clinical practice: 1) administrative and clinical workflow activities 2) clinical reasoning /decision making 3) treatments and 4) patients education1,3. However, there are also some limitations/risks in their use. On one side, the use of AIChatbots may increase the risk of the plagiarism and copyrights/privacy violation, provide incorrect or superficial answer from inaccurate sources/references, on the other side the use of AIChatbots may automate, dehumanize and threaten the physiotherapist professional identity that require a wide range of relational, cognitive and physical skills not replicable for machines3. The main aim of this study is to investigate the perception, knowledge, attitudes, limitations and barriers in the Italian physiotherapy community.
A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted on 252 Italian Physiotherapists, in accordance with the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES)guidelines4 and STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology5. Participants were physiotherapists regularly registered in the national register of physiotherapy FNOFI (Federazione Nazionale Ordini Fisioterapisti) and member of the national scientific association of physiotherapy AIFI. The questionnaire was composed of four sections: 1) Characteristics of the sample with 11 questions; 2) knowledge and attitudes to use AIChatbots with seven closed multiple-choice questions 3) perception with two questions closed multiple-choice questions 4) limitations and barriers with one closed multiple-choice questions. Survey Monkey online survey was chased to collect the data. The survey started on 27th March 2024 and it is still ongoing. The mailing list of AIFI was used to contact the participants.
The study sample includes 252 physiotherapists (104 males, 43.33%; 134 females, 55.83%) with an average of 10 years of work experience. With regard to the “knowledge and attitudes” regarding the use of AI Chatbots of them 92.24% have heard of AI Chatbots, but the 79.74% have never used it in clinical practice. Nevertheless, the 71.55 % of the physiotherapists interviewed highlighted a positive attitude in future use. Regarding “perception” in the use of Chatbots in clinical practice, the 49.77 % of the sample believe that it was be useful in clinical practice: the major number of positive responses were relative to management patients medical records (76.7%), creation online content for patients home exercise (87.91 %) and for social media posts (86%). Finally, “limitations and barriers”, the physiotherapists reported the following rate of risks: patients self-treatment (80.4%), spread of false information or misinformation (76.5 %), reduction of human interactions (67.2 %).
Previous study evaluated perception, knowledge and attitudes regarding the use of AIChatbots among healthcare professionals, our study, at the first time, investigate the perception, knowledge, attitudes limitations and barriers regarding the use of AIChatbots among the Italian physiotherapy community. The first set of questions sought to determine the “knowledge and attitudes”, despite the major of the sample have never used AIChatbots, they expressed a positive attitude to use it in future. One interesting finding was that the physiotherapists interviewed highlighted a general positive perception regarding the potential benefit of AIChatbots, especially to assist them in creating on-line content to improve patients education and to generate ideas for social media posts. Nevertheless, they recognise potential risks related to automatization and dehumanization of physiotherapy practice that require a wide range of relational, cognitive and physical skills not replicable for machines.
