The Accessibility of Osteopaths to Physically Disabled People
Item
- Title
- The Accessibility of Osteopaths to Physically Disabled People
- Author(s)
- Pope Sara J
- Abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate the accessibility of osteopaths to physically disabled people. A questionnaire was used to establish whether osteopaths were treating patients in wheelchairs at their practices, the osteopath’s perception of how accessible their practices were, what facilities the practices had, whether the osteopaths were aware of their disabled clients and were making their premises more accessible and how easy or hard it was for a patient to find a practice that was suitable for their physical needs.Results were obtained from 131 osteopaths in the UK. These showed that a high level of osteopaths were treating patients in wheelchairs at the premises in which they worked. It was shown that it could be difficult for a physically disabled patient to find an osteopath, as there was very little advertising that premises were suitable for wheelchair users. The survey established that osteopaths are making changes to their practices but that they will need to continue to do so in anticipation of The Disability Act. It is intended that, from 2004, service providers will have to make “reasonable adjustments” to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access. The osteopath’s perceived level of access to their premises was easy for a physically disabled patient not in a wheelchair, but an average “Neither easy not difficult” level for a patient confined to a wheelchair. Differences between demographic factors, or the types of clinic in which osteopaths were working did not account for the levels of perceived access. There was a significant difference in the perceived levels of access between owners and non-owners of premises, with the owners having a higher perception of ease of access.
- Abstract
- presented at
- British School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2000
- Date Submitted
- 31.7.2000 00:00:00
- Type
- undergraduate_project
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 12196
- Inst-Identifier
- 780
- Keywords
- Disabled People,Disability,Accessibility
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Pope Sara J, “The Accessibility of Osteopaths to Physically Disabled People”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed April 29, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/2264