Does Gender Matter? Patient Preference in an Italian Osteopathic Clinical Setting

Istituto Superiore di Osteopatia di Milano105 enrolled

Overview

This study evaluates patients preference for the gender of their osteopath. All patients referring to an Italian private osteopathic clinic will receive a proper questionnaire before knowing the gender of their designed osteopath.

Several previous studies have shown that clinical contextual factors, such as patients preferences, play an important role in the patient-physical relationship, with resulting consequences on clinical outcomes. The interaction between the gender of both patient and physician is often impacted by existing stereotypes. Patient preference for specific physician gender has been investigated in scientific literature. However the are no studies that analyzed the role of gender in osteopathic medicine.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

105

Conditions

Gender Role

Interventions

Gender QuestionnaireOTHER

13-items questionnaire including demographics questions (gender, age, education; naive to osteopathic treatment or not; general gender preferences; specific gender preference in case of low back pain, neck pain, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal disorders of upper and lower limbs pain; headache; urogenital disorders

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: first visit at the osteopathic clinic (Centro di Medicina Osteopatica) Milan Exclusion Criteria: non-Italian speaking

Locations (1)

Istituto Superiore di Osteopatia

Milan, MI, Italy

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Gender questionnaire (Self-reported 13-items questionnaire)

* Patient's gender? * Patient's age? * Educational level? (middle school, high school, BSc, MSc, PhD) * Naive to osteopathic treatment? (yes/no) * Only if the answer of question 5 is yes, which was the osteopath's gender at your first osteopathic consultation? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had low back pain? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had neck pain? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had gastrointestinal disorders? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had upper limb pain? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had lower limb pain? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had headache? * Which would be your favorite osteopath's gender if you had urogenital disorders? Questions 7-13: Choose among: female, male, no preference

Time frame: 1 day

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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