Abstract
Background
The attitudes and beliefs of chiropractors in the management of back pain not only affects their treatment
approach but they also have the ability to influence the mind-sets, attitudes and beliefs of their patients to a
certain extent. This then leads to different outcomes of the chosen treatments and different healing results.
Aim
The aim of this study was to explore whether chiropractors in Gauteng, South Africa, were more biomedically
or biopsychosocially orientated towards managing low back pain by making use of a questionnaire related to
their attitudes and beliefs regarding the management of back pain. A secondary aim to determine if
demographic differences affect the results was also made.
Research Methodology
The research involved a cross-sectional, quantitative and explorative study that utilised QuestionPro via the
Statkon Department at the University of Johannesburg. This was in the form of a self-administered online
survey. This survey was sent to all qualified, registered chiropractors actively practising in Gauteng, South
Africa. There were a total of 124 valid responses in which each participant consented to participate in the
survey; and responded to all the items on the survey (response rate 50.2%). The data was then analysed by
Statkon of the University of Johannesburg.
Results and Discussion
The data from the responses were collected and analyzed and revealed minimal statistically significant
conclusions. The results revealed that chiropractors in Gauteng were moderately inclined to using the
biomedical approach. This does not mean that they were not inclined to use the biopsychosocial model of
healthcare because they are not opposing concepts. More participants fell into the classification of having a
severe biomedical classification than a moderate classification but the mean value was found to be in the
moderate range. The demographic findings did not contribute to fulfilling the aims of this study and its
significance is too small to hold any importance in answering the research questions of this study. The
majority of the participants (72%) were relatively new graduates with 0-10 years of practice experience and
so comparisons could not be made here. Considering that this survey sample group was limited to
chiropractors practicing in Gauteng, it was expected that the majority of participants would have been
graduates from Technikon Witwaterstrand or the University of Johannesburg (87.1% combined) as they
were/are situated in the said province. The data collected proved that indeed this was the case and hence no
comparisons could be done on the institution where their degree was completed.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The two models cannot, at this stage, be compared because of the low value of internal consistency for the
biopsychosocial subscale. This proved the scale to be unreliable in measuring biopsychosocial attitudes and...
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)