Osteopathic Research Web

Why vets qualify in osteopathy? - A qualitative questionnaire study

Item

Title

Why vets qualify in osteopathy? - A qualitative questionnaire study

Author(s)

Six, Q

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The legislation covering animal care changed in France at the beginning of 2011, with a new law passed on the 2Oth of January 2011 (Legifrance, 2011a). This law put animal osteopathy in a critical situation. Osteopaths lobbied vets and the government to have a supplementary clause inserted into the French veterinary legislation permitting other professionals certain permissions to "treat" animals. Finally, the government took into consideration the protests. A law n011-862 passed on the 22nd of July 2011 (Legifrance, 2011b) now permits osteopaths in France to treat animals. One of the challenges for French osteopaths is to communicate and promote himself within the veterinary profession in order to be acknowledged and accepted by the vets. Thus investigating the vets' understanding of osteopathy seems crucial. The present qualitative study investigates the motivation shown in osteopathy by French vets and more specifically explores the motives leading French veterinary surgeons (N=65) to develop their career by qualifying in osteopathy. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative analysis was selected for this study to search for common themes and differences that these vets shared throughout their experience of qualifying in osteopathy. A questionnaire was designed with open questions and sent by mail to a convenience sampling of 254 vets registered to the "French osteopath treating animals" directory accessible on-line (Osteopathe-veterinaire, n.d.). A thematic analysis approach was adopted to analyze the data. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the thematic analysis: Intrinsic value perspective (rationale, emotions, spirituality), practitioner experience, social dynamic. DISCUSSION: This qualitative descriptive study highlights the influence of rationale, emotions, spirituality, social dynamic and practitioner experience in the respondents' decision and experience of qualifying in osteopathy. The results suggest that the "Practitioner experience" theme is the central articulation linking the other two together. The author cautions the reader to be mindful of the preliminary nature of this study, and the fact that limitations (such as limited transferability and triangulation) have been encountered while carrying it out. Future research directions are proposed and a major step would be to triangulate the results by the use of different data collection methods such as interviews and focus groups.

presented at

European School of Osteopathy

Date Accepted

2012

Date Submitted

22.1.2013 16:23:35

Type

osteo_thesis

Language

English

Submitted by:

62

Pub-Identifier

15239

Inst-Identifier

1229

Keywords

Veterinary Osteopathy, Animals. Academic qualification

Recommended

0

Item sets

Thesis

Six, Q, “Why vets qualify in osteopathy? - A qualitative questionnaire study”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 2, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/826