Sviluppo della qualità della formazione in osteopatia: il ruolo dell'analisi dei bisogni formativi. Il caso di una scuola di osteopatia italiana (Development of training quality in osteopathy: the role of training needs assessment. The case of an Italian school of osteopathy).

This article describes the results of a research carried out in a school of osteopathy in Italy, in order to assess the training needs of its students within a wider project of organizational development aimed to improve teachers’ technical and organizational skills and to increase the quality of their service. The assessment was conducted through focus groups with all the students and content analysis of data according to the psychosocial theory of collusion, formulated by Renzo Carli and Rosa Maria Paniccia on the basis of the Matte Blanco’s bi-logic theory of mind. Data analysis provided a cultural segmentation of the student demand, corresponding to different attitudes towards osteopathy and osteopathic education focused on some factors such as: orientation towards a holistic approach to body and disease, expectations toward the osteopathic practice in terms of autonomy and earnings, attention for anatomical and physiological basics, passion for manual body treatments and attention to the development of osteopathic profession and identity and the role of the osteopathy in one’s own life. As a result of the research, specific indicators for osteopathic training quality were elaborated, according to the different aspects of training experience previously identified. On the basis of these quality indicators, new objectives of organizational improvement were identified, with the purpose of developing trainers’ communication and relationships skills, as well of introducing a system of continuous assessment of students’ needs and satisfaction with regard to the school educational services.