Toledo, Ohio 43614, USA.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Jul 2;14:217. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-217.
Feldenkrais Method® teachers help students improve function and quality of life through verbally and manually guided lessons. The reasons people seek Feldenkrais® lessons are poorly understood. Similarly, little is known about practice characteristics and patterns. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted an extensive survey of United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®.
We invited all Feldenkrais Teachers to participate in this survey delivered in web-based or print formats. We obtained overall and question-specific response rates, descriptive statistics, chi-square tests of response bias, and performed qualitative thematic review of comments.
Overall response rate was 30.5% (392/1287). Ninety percent of responders had college degrees in diverse fields; 12.5% had credentials outside health care, 36.9% held conventional health care licenses, and 23.1% had complementary and alternative medicine credentials. Mean age was 55.7 years; most teachers were women (83%). California (n = 100) and New York (n = 34) had the most teachers. Forty-five percent of teachers earned ≤ 20% of their gross income from their practices, while 26% earned > 80%. Most saw < 10 students/week for individual lessons and < 10 students/week for group lessons. Students were mostly women (71.1%) and 45-64 years old. The primary reason students sought Feldenkrais lessons was pain. A quarter of students self-referred, a fifth were referred by conventional health care providers, and two-thirds paid for services directly. Themes from comments included: beliefs that Feldenkrais training had important personal and professional benefits for teachers; recognition of the challenges of operating small businesses and succinctly describing the Feldenkrais Method; the variety of practice approaches; and a deep commitment to the Feldenkrais Method.
Most Feldenkrais Teachers were well educated, often held additional credentials, were located in the West, were women, were older than 50 years, and had part-time practices. Most students were women, were adults, came from various referral sources, and paid directly for services. Teachers and students utilized the Feldenkrais Method in diverse settings and applications. These findings may foster practice development by Feldenkrais Teachers, improve communication between health care consumers and providers and assist decision-making, and stimulate more research concerning the Feldenkrais Method.
费登奎斯方法®教师通过口头和手动指导课程帮助学生提高功能和生活质量。人们寻求费登奎斯®课程的原因知之甚少。同样，人们对练习的特点和模式也知之甚少。为了解决这些知识空白，我们对美国公会认证的费登奎斯教师®进行了广泛的调查。
我们邀请所有费登奎斯教师参与这项在线或印刷格式的调查。我们获得了总体和问题特定的回复率、描述性统计数据、响应偏差的卡方检验，并对评论进行了定性主题审查。
总体回复率为 30.5%（392/1287）。90%的回应者拥有大学学历，专业领域广泛；12.5%的人拥有医疗保健以外的资质，36.9%的人拥有传统医疗保健执照，23.1%的人拥有补充和替代医学资质。平均年龄为 55.7 岁；大多数教师为女性（83%）。加利福尼亚州（n=100）和纽约州（n=34）的教师人数最多。45%的教师从实践中获得的收入低于总收入的 20%，而 26%的教师获得的收入高于总收入的 80%。大多数教师每周为个人课程提供的学生少于 10 人，每周为团体课程提供的学生少于 10 人。学生主要为女性（71.1%），年龄在 45-64 岁之间。学生寻求费登奎斯课程的主要原因是疼痛。四分之一的学生是自我推荐的，五分之一是由传统医疗保健提供者推荐的，三分之二的学生直接付费。评论中的主题包括：教师们认为费登奎斯培训对他们的个人和职业发展有重要的益处；认识到经营小企业的挑战，并简洁地描述了费登奎斯方法；各种实践方法；以及对费登奎斯方法的深深承诺。
大多数费登奎斯教师都受过良好的教育，通常拥有额外的资质，位于西部，为女性，年龄在 50 岁以上，并且拥有兼职业务。大多数学生是女性，年龄在成年，来自不同的推荐来源，并直接为服务付费。教师和学生在各种环境和应用中使用了费登奎斯方法。这些发现可以促进费登奎斯教师的实践发展，改善医疗保健消费者和提供者之间的沟通并协助决策，并激发更多关于费登奎斯方法的研究。
