Image of the new medical specialty «osteopathy» among students of a medical university with due regard to their personal social characteristics

Introduction. In recent years osteopathy has been rapidly developing as an individual medical specialty in the Russian Federation. A growing number of specialists are studying this specialty and represent it in Russia and abroad. A large number of studies clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment are being conducted. In addition, the Russian Federation has a regulatory framework according to which osteopathy is regulated by the government. However, many medical doctors, lecturers and students of medical universities do not have a clear understanding of osteopathy and put in question the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment. The goal of research — to study student′s knowledge about the principles, methods and scope of osteopathic treatment in order to develop a program for disseminating relevant information about osteopathy with regard to individual social characteristics.

Materials and methods. We conducted an anonymous survey among students of Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University using special forms. We also used the online tool Google Forms in the social network Vkontakte. 73 respondents took part in the survey. 8 communities from the social network Vkontakte, with the target audience being students of medical Universities, were reviewed. The search for references to osteopathy was made by the keyword «osteopath». A special questionnaire with 22 questions was developed in order to collect the necessary information. The first part of the questionnaire contains 16 questions about the specialty «osteopathy»; the second part (6 questions) allows to study the respondent′s personal characteristics: age, gender, year of studies, presence of medical doctors among family members, participation in the student′s scientific society (SSS). 14 questions from the fi rst part of the questionnaire were dichotomous and 2 questions had 3 or more answer options. 12 questions from the first part were aimed at studying students′ ideas about osteopathy. The correct answer was rated 1 point, the wrong answer — 0. The points obtained during the survey were summed up. In the subsequent processing of the results, the indicators of the respondent′s opinions, evaluated on a 12-point scale, were ranked into 3 groups: from 1 to 4 points — a low level of knowledge, from 5 to 8 points — an average level, from 9 to 12 — a high level.

Results. It was found that 66 % of respondents have a low level of knowledge about the specialty «osteopathy», 30 % have an average level of knowledge, only 4 % of respondents have a high level of knowledge. The results indicate insufficient and extremely low level of awareness about the specialty «osteopathy» among students. Due to the lack of reliable sources of information within the system of education in higher medical educational institutions there is a spread of misconceptions about this specialty. It was established that students involved in SSS had a significantly higher level of knowledge about osteopathy than students who were not involved in SSS, and that students who had medical doctors in their families had a significantly lower level of knowledge about osteopathy than students who did not have medical doctors in their families.

Conclusion. It is necessary to use different ways of informing students about the new medical specialty taking into account their individual characteristics, as well as to introduce awareness-raising about osteopathy (lectures, practical sessions) into the training system within the framework of an optional and/or elective courses, to improve the work of the student scientific society.

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