Orientamento al cliente e miglioramento continuo della formazione in osteopatia. Misurazione della soddifazione del cliente di una scuola di osteopatia del centro Italia (Customer orientation and continuous improvement of education in osteopathy. Measurement of customer satisfaction of a school of osteopathy in central Italy)

This article presents the results of a research carried out in a school of osteopathy in Italy, with the purpose of exploring the image that the students have of the osteopathic education and profession, in order to evaluate their experience of the school’s educational services. The research falls within a wider organizational development project aimed at improving the service quality and teachers’ educational skills. It was conducted through a specific measurement methodology of customer satisfaction based on detection of cultural and emotional dynamics which organise relationships between the students and the school of osteopathy and determine the offer and the demand for osteopathic education. A specific questionnaire was elaborated at this end, according to the ServQual and Misure methods and administered to the students. The collected data were processed with techniques of descriptive and multivariate statistics using SPAD software and interpreted according to psychosocial models of the analysis of demand and the construct of collusion, elaborated by R. Carli, on the basis of Matte Blanco’s theory of mind. The results showed a customer segmentation into four groups and generally high satisfaction scores, but lower than expectation levels. With reference to the features of each single segment, it emerged that the level of satisfaction was sharply influenced by the student’s more or less realistic level of expectations towards the osteopathy and the osteopathic education, from the point of view of professional career and personal change prospects.