Doctors’ knowledge of osteopathy in the district of Bregenz
Item
- Title
- Doctors’ knowledge of osteopathy in the district of Bregenz
- Author(s)
- Seewald Sven
- Abstract
-
Study Design
quantitative social study
Outline/Problem Definition
Osteopathy is still not commonly known: neither doctors nor ordinary people know a lot about it.
A common misunderstanding is that it only deals with the bones and has something to do with osteoporosis.(Kleines Blatt, Vorarlberg, June 2007).
People believe that there are clearly defined guidelines, and the belief that the title of the osteopath is under copyright is also very common.
Research Question & Objective
Do doctors in the district of Bregenz know what osteopathy is? Do they refer patients to or work together with osteopaths? Do they know the indications and contraindications? Do they know that the title of an osteopath is not under copyright and that there are no clearly defined guidelines concerning osteopathy? Do they have any experiences with osteopathy?
Hypothesis
The doctors’ knowledge about osteopathy in the district of Bregenz “is quite small”. The majority does not have any experience with osteopathy. Most of them do not know the indications and contra-indications and that the title of an osteopath is not under copyright, because there are no clearly defined guidelines concerning osteopathy
Relevance for the Patients
One of the prime concerns of this masterthesis is, to make osteopathy more popular especially in the district of Bregenz and of course to arouse interest in osteopathy itself and what it can do for the benefit of the patients. If doctors do not know what osteopathy is and what the correct indications and contra-indications are, it is difficult for them to refer patients for an osteopathic treatment.
Moreover only one tenth of the responding doctors know that osteopathy is not under copyright and that still no special formation is necessary to call oneself an osteopath. This is also an information, which is important, because then they perhaps realize that not every osteopathic treatment is the same , just as you consider one osteopath as an individual
Relevance for Osteopathy
If the doctors in the district of Bregenz are more informed about osteopathy- the indications, contra-indications, guidelines for a profound formation…., osteopathy itself will benefit also, because it gets more popular
Methodology
This masterthesis is a describing and comparing work and in methodical terms it is a quantitative social survey.
An anonymous questionnaire was sent to all the doctors working in the local hospital, to ninety of the 163 doctors having their own practice (all who have a private or business e-mail-account), and to all the registrated dentists in the district.
The employed doctors and doctors with their own practice received the questionnaire per e-mail, all the dentist per post.
After two weeks the employed doctors and doctors having their own practice received a reminder per e-mail.
Results
The majority of the responding doctors confirm that they are not well informed about osteopathy, although the common misunderstanding that it only deals with the bones and has something to do with osteoporosis cannot be confirmed by this study.
One third of the interviewed doctors already had an osteopathic treatment themselves.
Almost half of the doctors have already referred their patients to an osteopath, especially the doctors with their own practice, therefore the second statement that the majority does not have any experience with osteopathy is not correct.
Also the third statement that they do not know the indications and contra-indications is not correct that way, because almost all of the responding doctors know the most frequent indications, which are acute and chronic pain of the musculoskeletal system. Intestine disorders and problems with the urogenital tract and in pregnancy are not commonly known as indications for osteopathy.
Only four out of the forty responding doctors know that osteopathy is not under copyright and that still no special formation is necessary to call oneself an osteopath, which demonstrates clearly that there is a lack of information concerning this matter.
Critical Reflection/Perspectives/Conclusions
The hypothesis was that most of them do not know a lot about osteopathy. However, the result of this study shows a different picture, because more than half of the interviewed doctors know at least the basics of osteopathy and that an osteopath works manually with the musculoskeletal system including the joints, with the inner organs and with the cranio-sacral system as well. Moreover a third of the doctors already had an osteopathic treatment themselves and almost half of the doctors have referred patients to an osteopath so far.
Additional Information
- presented at
- Wiener Schule für Osteopathie
- Date Accepted
- 2008
- Date Submitted
- 1.2.2008 00:00:00
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13306
- Inst-Identifier
- 781
- Keywords
- Doctors
- Recommended
- 0
- Medium
- SeewaldSven.pdf
- Item sets
- Thesis
- Media
- SeewaldSven.pdf
Seewald Sven, “Doctors’ knowledge of osteopathy in the district of Bregenz”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed April 25, 2024, https://www.osteopathic-research.com/s/orw/item/3019