Population based intervention to change back pain beliefs: three year follow up population survey.

We previously reported the positive results of a population based campaign designed to alter beliefs about back pain in Victoria, Australia. 2 The campaign consisted of television commercials which gave clear advice about back pain—for example, stay active and exercise, do not rest for prolonged periods, and stay at work. After the intervention, doctors’ and the community’s beliefs about back pain became significantly more positive, and the number of workers’ claims for compensation and medical payments for back pain had declined. To measure sustained change in beliefs about back pain three years after the campaign ended, we repeated telephone surveys in Victoria and in adjacent New South Wales as a control.