American Chiropractors’ Research Priorities
Robert D. Jansen, Ph.D., William C. Meeker, D.C., M.P.H., Anthony Rosner, Ph.D.
Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research ~ Volume 2 ~ Number 2 ~ Pages 1-5
Abstract
(Reprinted With Permission From: JNMS:The Journal of the Neuromusculoskeletal System 1997;Vol. 5, No. 4: p144 -149.)
In 1996, the United States Health Resources and Services Administration awarded a contract to conduct a “National Workshop to Develop the Chiropractic Research Agenda.”To inform that workshop, and to better understand their clinical environment, a representative mail survey of American chiropractors’ research priorities was undertaken. The purpose of the study was to determine practicing chiropractors’ needs and preferences relative to research both general and in the short term. Scantron questionnaires were distributed by first class mail to a random sample of 2,280 chiropractors in the United States; 1,245 questionnaires were returned and analyzed. All participants were practicing chiropractors. Respondents used a five-category Likert scale to rate the relative importance of a menu of research objectives and topic areas. All rating percentages are presented, but the highest importance rating percentages are utilized for analysis. American chiropractors feel that the acceptance of chiropractic, primarily by patients and other health care professionals, should be the most important research objective. They feel that this can best be accomplished in the immediate future by basic science research on the nature of the subluxation complex and/or the physiological effects of adjustments including visceral and neuromusculoskeletal effects. In addition, very low priority was given to developing research resources, or to evaluating clinical techniques, procedures, or equipment.
Key words: Basic Science, Chiropractic, Research
