Attitudes towards prescribing rights: a qualitative focus group study with UK osteopaths

Abstract

Background A range of practitioners allied to medicine have recently acquired limited prescribing rights and there are moves to extend these rights to others. The opportunity for osteopaths to lobby for limited prescribing rights is available. Objectives The study aimed to identify some osteopaths' attitudes and beliefs about the role of prescribing in osteopathy in the UK and to develop a conceptual model to map a range of beliefs that influence attitudes towards prescribing. Methods A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. Two minimally moderated semi-structured focus groups were run, each comprising a sample of five opportunistically selected practising osteopaths who were also members of faculty at the British School of Osteopathy. Transcripts of the focus groups were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach and constant comparison procedures. Emergent themes were conceptually coded as matters of ideology (principles, philosophy) or of pragmatics, (relating to either clinical practice or professional issues). Further analysis involved taking an overview of the data extracted by coding and synthesizing those data to form coherent thematic structures under the two supra-themes. Results Three ideological and four pragmatic themes emerged. We focused on the three ideological themes and extracted models, representing extreme positions, labelled as ‘Scientific Osteopathy’, ‘Osteopathic Purity’ and ‘Osteopathic Prescribing’. Conclusions Models have been derived that may explain attitudes towards prescribing. Further work is needed to test whether the models identified in this small qualitative study are valid and whether the themes identified in the focus groups represent issues of importance to the whole profession. Further survey work is recommended to inform decision making at a professional and regulatory level.