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

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Detailed Description
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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.

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

Conditions
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Gender Role

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Gender Questionnaire


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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Patients referring to an osteopathic clinic - CMO, Milan<br>Adults, age>18 years, first visit at osteopathic clinic (Centro di Medicina Osteopatica) | Other: Gender Questionnaire<br>* 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<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 | 1 day | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Gender, Sex and gender, Patient preference, Osteopathic medicine