Physical Therapist and Patient Perspectives on Emotional Support in Physical Therapy Rehabilitation for Injured Soldiers: An Empirical Investigation of Needs, Facilitators, and Barriers in Providing Body-Mind Support

A mixed-methods approach will be used. A survey of Physical therapists working with wounded soldiers (n ≈ 100) will includes personal and professional factors and role perception, empathy, burnout and compassion. Additionally, interviews with Physical therapists and wounded soldiers (n ≈ 28) will explore factors they perceive to influence motivation for physical rehabilitation and successful recovery. All participants will receive an explanation of the research before taking part and will be asked to indicate their consent (for the survey) or sign a consent form (for the interviews). For the quantitative section, descriptive statistics will be used to process and present the data for the research variables. Hypothesis testing will be conducted using parametric or non-parametric goodness-of-fit tests, depending on the distribution of data across research measures. The significance level will be set at p < 0.05. All statistical analyses will be performed using SPSS software, version 22.

For the qualitative section, thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews will be conducted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.