Percepções de adultos brasileiros acerca de materiais digitais sobre dor lombar: uma análise qualitativa

Abstract

Low back pain is considered the leading cause of disability in the world and educational materials have the potential to help manage episodes of this condition. Therefore, it is essential to analyze whether these materials are suitable for the understanding of their consumers. This work is justified by the scarcity of studies in the literature on the perceptions of Brazilian adults regarding digital materials about low back pain and aims to explore the perceptions of Brazilian adults regarding digital materials about LBP. Thus, this qualitative design paper is secondary to the Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) entitled “Effect of a Digital Pain Education Material on Beliefs and Attitudes about Low Back Pain in Community Individuals: Randomized Controlled Trial.”. Six interviews were conducted with participants from the RCT control group who completed the 8-week follow-up. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed thematically. Analysis resulted in 3 themes: 1) Form of Presentation of Materials; 2) Content categories about low back pain education and 3) Personal reactions related to the information. Participant speech included information on adequacy of format and message of materials, acceptance of presentation formats, understanding and relevance of information, conflicts related to exposed content and security in transmitting information to others. These findings demonstrated that adults' perceptions of digital materials are related to broad aspects, such as quality of information and individual reflections on topics presented. Therefore, the participation of consumers in the creation of digital materials about low back pain is a fundamental strategy for adapting these products to the public.