Health Sciences University, UCO School of Osteopathy, London, UK.
Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Nov 1;24(1):1332. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11826-y.
Health professionals develop their own approach to patient care based on education, experience and philosophical stance. Literature suggests that this practice approach informs patient care, and clinical outcomes. The Osteopaths' Therapeutic Approaches Questionnaire (Osteo-TAQ) is a novel 36-item instrument developed from qualitative grounded theory research with osteopaths in the United Kingdom. The aim of the study was to develop evidence for the structural and construct validity of the Osteo-TAQ in the Australian osteopathic profession and provide initial descriptive data about the therapeutic approaches of osteopaths in Australia.
A cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from registered osteopaths in Australia using the Osteo-TAQ and analysed with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The EFA utilised parallel analysis to determine the number of factors to extract and McDonald's omega calculated as the reliability estimation statistic.
691 Australian osteopaths provided data for the study, representing 25% of the Australian osteopathic profession. Empirically the number of factors to extract based on the parallel analysis was seven. Two- and three-factor solutions were evaluated given the underpinning theory identifying two conceptions of practice and three interrelated therapeutic approaches. Both the two- and three-factor solutions were consistent with the underpinning theory with acceptable reliability estimations for each factor. Descriptive data suggested the most common element of the therapeutic approach of Australian osteopaths was establishing rapport, while the least common was 'only talking' with their patients.
This study provides evidence for the structural, content and construct validity of the Osteo-TAQ in an Australian osteopathic practitioner population. The results support both a two- and three-factor structure for the Osteo-TAQ in an Australian osteopathic population, with each factor demonstrating acceptable reliability estimations supporting the items comprising each factor as measuring a single construct. From a theoretical and empirical perspective, it can be inferred that the Osteo-TAQ tool encapsulates an osteopaths' conception of practice (professional artistry and technical rational) and three main therapeutic approaches to patient care: Educator, Communicator and Treater. Further research is required to explore each of these therapeutic approaches to better understand how they relate to an individual osteopath's conception of practice, and their associations with other measures of practice including clinical outcomes.
健康专业人员根据教育、经验和哲学立场制定自己的患者护理方法。文献表明，这种实践方法会影响患者护理和临床结果。骨病治疗方法问卷（Osteo-TAQ）是一种新的 36 项工具，是从英国骨病医生的定性扎根理论研究中开发出来的。本研究的目的是为澳大利亚骨病治疗方法提供结构和构念效度的证据，并提供澳大利亚骨病医生治疗方法的初步描述性数据。
使用 Osteo-TAQ 对澳大利亚注册骨病医生进行横断面研究设计，并进行探索性因素分析（EFA）。EFA 利用平行分析来确定要提取的因素数量，以及 McDonald 的 ω作为可靠性估计统计量。
691 名澳大利亚骨病医生为该研究提供了数据，占澳大利亚骨病专业的 25%。根据平行分析，提取因素的数量为 7 个。考虑到识别两种实践观念和三种相互关联的治疗方法的基础理论，评估了两因素和三因素解决方案。两种和三种因素解决方案都与基础理论一致，每个因素的可靠性估计值都可以接受。描述性数据表明，澳大利亚骨病医生治疗方法最常见的元素是建立融洽关系，而最不常见的元素是“只与患者交谈”。
本研究为 Osteo-TAQ 在澳大利亚骨病医生人群中的结构、内容和构念效度提供了证据。结果支持在澳大利亚骨病医生人群中使用 Osteo-TAQ 的两因素和三因素结构，每个因素的可靠性估计值都可以接受，支持每个因素包含的项目衡量单个结构。从理论和经验的角度来看，可以推断 Osteo-TAQ 工具包含了骨病医生的实践观念（专业技艺和技术理性）和三种主要的患者护理治疗方法：教育者、沟通者和治疗者。需要进一步研究以探索这三种治疗方法中的每一种，以更好地了解它们与个别骨病医生的实践观念的关系，以及它们与包括临床结果在内的其他实践措施的关系。
