Who are our guests?
Item
- Title
- Who are our guests?
- Author(s)
- Sumesgutner Agnes
- Abstract
-
Design of the study
The study presented is considered to be quantitative research.
Problem definition / outline
The structure and the composition of the group of patients in the office of practising osteopaths in Vienna have not been adequately explored to date.
Research question & objective
Based on the standardised questionnaires patients who are consulting a practising osteopath in Vienna will be examined thoroughly.
On the one hand the stratum index by Winkler is applied, in order to classify patients according to their level of living. On the other hand the mental and physical health conditions are reflected in questionnaire SF- 36.
Hypothesis
Not only the upper-class of the population in Vienna consults a practising osteopath, but also a fraction of the middle class. With regard to the subjective physical and mental health conditions those patients differ only in specific subscales from the norm population.
Relevance for the patients
The investigation in the field of patients as part of the basic research provides a deeper understanding of the needs of the patients and enables a discussion about the focused inclusion of potentially undersupplied groups of patient.
Relevance for osteopathy
The results of this work can also be used for socio-political, labour-political and educational discussions.
Methodology
A questionnaire consisting of two parts has been compiled. The first part relates to the stratum index by Winkler, the second is based on the self assessment
form SF-36.
SF-36 is a multi-purpose instrument to measure the subjective health conditions in eight subdivisions. Furthermore, these subdivisions are merged into two indicators named „physical” and „mental health“.
Average population data is available for variance analysis.
Results
Most patients consulting an osteopath practising in Vienna are primarily from the middle-class, namely 49, 7 %. It became evident that patients from the lower class rarely have access to osteopathic treatment.
The result of the research of the subjective health condition of the patients did not show any deviation from the norm in relation to “general health” as in SF-36. However, there was significant influence on the subjective well-being in relation to “bodily pain” and “role emotional”. With regard to the gender related evaluation the strongest deviation from the norm was the negative influence of “role-emotion” among women.
Critical reflection
The shortcomings of the stratum index according to Winkler became obvious as certain parameters selected turned out to be too unspecific, e.g. the term “employee” in the category “profession”. Based on this amount of errors in the stratum index in this study it appears that stratum-specified questions are perceived as being far more intimate than the question of physical or mental parameters. - 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
- 13903
- Inst-Identifier
- 781
- Keywords
- Patients
- Recommended
- 0
- Medium
- SumesgutnerAgnes.pdf
- Item sets
- Thesis
- Media
- SumesgutnerAgnes.pdf
Sumesgutner Agnes, “Who are our guests?”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 17, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.org/s/orw/item/2952