Health Promotion and Prevention Practice in a Chiropractic Teaching Clinic

Introduction

The routine use of health promotion (HP) in integrative health care has been emphasized among health care providers. Although chiropractic principles emphasize wellness, recent analysis of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS-2006) did not indicate the support of HP practice for preventive care among practicing doctors of chiropractic (DC) to a significant extent. The Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) has put in place a new standard for the delivery of health promotion (HP) and “wellness” based education for America's chiropractic colleges. Although recent studies have shown a high intention of chiropractic interns to practice HP, no study has been conducted to support this claim during actual practice. This study is designed to explore whether chiropractic interns are practicing HP with patients in relation to red-flagged health conditions.

Methods

The study is a retrospective review of a random selection of patient files in a chiropractic teaching clinic. Data is being collected using a data collection form designed by the investigators. This comprised of the following sections: specific health conditions, family history of the conditions, existing red flags, health maintenance, HP recommendations/plans by chiropractic interns and approval/support from staff doctors. Data analyses will include multiple logistic regression and chi-squared testing. IRB approved

Implications

Identifying and quantifying how interns affect modifiable risk behaviors and adhere to health promotion/education campaign may be very insightful in training a new generation of chiropractors that would embrace HP/ preventive health care practice with their patients.