A Living History—A Qualitative Study of Experienced Chiropractors Treating Visceral Conditions

Abstract

he purpose of this ethnographic study was two-fold: (1) to investigate the nature of chiro­practic treatments used by experienced practi­tioners for visceral conditions; and (2) to compare and contrast two methods of data collection—focus group and individual interview methodol­ogies. We identified participants from a list of chiro­practors with active licenses in 2001 obtained from the Texas Board of Chiropractic. All partici­pants were audio and videotaped during focus group and individual interviews. A person knowl­edgeable in chiropractic terminology transcribed all audiotapes and viewed the videotape simulta­neously. Primary documents were entered into Atlas.ti, a qualitative data analysis software pack­age. The experiences of these seasoned Texas chiro­practors describe a practice world in which a confident healer: (1) listened to, palpated, and educated patients; (2) adjusted for visceral and neuromusculoskeletal problems; and (3) devel­oped therapeutic relationships by successfully ex­plain­ing and applying chiropractic principles. Their confidence as healers was a consistent and dur­able theme, supported by four other themes: chiro­practic history and philosophy; doctor-patient rela­tionship; independence; and therapeutics. Individ­ual interviews generated richer description for the topic of visceral conditions. One or two partici­pants tended to dominate focus group discussion who reduced the level of meaningful interaction between participants. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0403170