| Summary: | Self-management has been an increasingly important aspect of helping people manage their long-term conditions. The aim of this qualitative review was to synthesise the views of physiotherapists concerning their delivery of a self-management approach. A systematic search was conducted on six electronic bibliographic databases to identify relevant primary studies. Studies were assessed for quality and data extracted. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic synthesis. A total of 1189 studies were identified and screened. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings suggest that for self-management approaches to work, physiotherapists believe that patients need to actively participate. Boundaries on who is the expert were blurred at times with some physiotherapists struggling to relinquish control. High quality patient-therapist relationships are required to build trust in order to support patients in the self-management of their long-term conditions. It is also important to consider the competing paradigms in which a service is delivered as this may facilitate or hinder self-management. Seeing patients as people is integral to supporting self-management approaches. Physiotherapists are well placed to support self-management but there is still a need for a cultural and paradigmatic shift in the physiotherapy profession and in some environments, this shift as yet is to be realised.
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