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

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

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.

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.

Inclusion Criteria: first visit at the osteopathic clinic (Centro di Medicina Osteopatica) Milan

Exclusion Criteria: non-Italian speaking