Table 3.
Difference in GP attitudes about Chiropractors and Osteopaths: ordinal response questionsa (n = 630)
| Survey question | Strongly agree | Agree | Totalb | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Totalc | Differenced (95 % CI) | p | Non-respondersi | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “Chiropractic treatment could benefit some of my patients.” | 43 (7) | 167 (28) | 210 (35) | 146 (24) | 139 (23) | 112 (19) | 397 (65) | 23 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “Osteopathic treatment could benefit some of my patients.” | 46 (7) | 160 (26) | 206 (34) | 201 (32) | 107 (17) | 97 (16) | 405 (66) | −1 (−3–5) | 0.74 | 19 | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “They (chiropractors) have provided useful and/or meaningful correspondence with me about co-management of patients.” | 16 (4) | 63 (14) | 79 (18) | 74 (17) | 138 (31) | 156 (34) | 368 (82) | 183 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “They (osteopaths) have provided useful and/or meaningful correspondence with me about co-management of patients.” | 19 (7) | 50 (17) | 69 (24) | 68 (24) | 62 (21) | 90 (31) | 220 (76) | −6 (−13– –4) | < 0.01* | 341 | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “I would like to have a better professional relationship with the local chiropractor(s).” | 26 (5) | 107 (18) | 133 (23) | 213 (36) | 143 (24) | 104 (17) | 460 (77) | 37 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “I would like to have a better professional relationship with the local osteopath(s).” | 28 (5) | 117 (20) | 145 (25) | 236 (40) | 116 (19) | 95 (16) | 447 (75) | −2 (−5–1) | 0.18 | 38 | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “The ongoing media coverage surrounding chiropractic has made it difficult to understand the role of the chiropractor in health care.” | 39 (7) | 125 (22) | 164 (29) | 211 (37) | 137 (23) | 65 (11) | 413 (71) | 53 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “The ongoing media coverage surrounding osteopathy has made it difficult to understand the role of the osteopath in health care.” | 23 (4) | 62 (11) | 85 (15) | 301 (52) | 138 (23) | 57 (10) | 496 (85) | 14 (11–17) | < 0.01* | 49 | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “There is a growing body of evidence available on the efficacy of chiropractic treatment.” | 19 (3) | 41 (7) | 60 (10) | 140 (24) | 189 (33) | 185 (33) | 514 (90) | 56 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “There is a growing body of evidence available on the efficacy of osteopathic treatment.” | 9 (2) | 56 (9) | 65 (11) | 228 (40) | 141 (24) | 143 (25) | 512 (89) | −1 (−3–2) | 0.67 | 53 | |
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “Chiropractic education in Australia is primarily evidence based.” | 9 (2) | 34 (6) | 43 (8) | 133 (23) | 165 (29) | 236 (41) | 534 (93) | 53 | |||
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: “Osteopathic education in Australia is primarily evidence based.” | 5 (1) | 51 (9) | 56 (10) | 233 (40) | 116 (20) | 173 (30) | 522 (90) | −2 (−5–1) | 0.04* | 52 | |
| Very know-ledgeable | Know-ledgeable | Some knowledge | Totale | Not very much knowledge | No knowledge | Totalf | Differenced (95 % CI) | p | Non-respondersi | ||
| How would you rate your knowledge of chiropractic and its mechanism of treatment? | 52 (9) | 149 (24) | 261 (43) | 462 (76) | 127 (21) | 18 (3) | 145 (24) | 23 | |||
| How would you rate your knowledge of osteopathy and its mechanism of treatment? | 33 (5) | 87 (14) | 221 (36) | 341 (56) | 199 (32.6) | 70 (11.5) | 269 (44) | 20 (16–24) | < 0.01* | 20 | |
| Very satisfied | Satisfied | Totalg | Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | Dissatisfied | Very dissatisfied | Haven’t communicated enough to respond | Totalh | Differenced (95 % CI) | p | Non-respondersi | |
| Are you satisfied with the methods of communication between chiropractors and doctors? | 13 (2) | 35 (6) | 48 (8) | 118 (20) | 97 (16) | 88 (15) | 242 (41) | 545 (92) | 37 | ||
| Are you satisfied with the methods of communication between osteopaths and doctors? | 11 (2) | 42 (7) | 53 (9) | 132 (22) | 48 (8) | 58 (10) | 301 (51) | 539 (91) | −1 (−3–2) | 0.49 | 38 |
CI Confidence interval
* p < 0.05
a All figures given as n (%) of total responses to that question except for non-responders
b Total responses recorded as ‘Strongly agree’ and ‘Agree’
c Total responses recorded as ‘Neither agree nor disagree’, ‘Disagree’ and ‘Strongly disagree’
d Difference (%) in Totalb, Totale or Totalg answers respectively for pairs of questions calculated using McNemar’s test for dependent binary data
e Total response recorded as ‘Very knowledgeable’, ‘Knowledgeable’ and ‘Some knowledge’
f Total responses recorded as ‘Not very much knowledge’ and ‘No knowledge’
g Total responses recorded as ‘Very satisfied’ and ‘Satisfied’
h Total responses recorded as ‘Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’, ‘Dissatisfied’, ‘Very dissatisfied’ and ‘Haven’t communicated enough to respond’
i Figures given as number of non-responders