“It's all about the story”. Osteopaths' experiences of exploring menopausal symptoms: A qualitative interview study

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of natural menopause means that middle aged women seeking osteopathic treatment are likely to have symptoms, but it is unknown how osteopaths explore and give advice about it.

Aim

To explore osteopaths’ experiences of screening for symptoms of menopause and providing advice to climacteric patients.

Methods

Elements of interpretative Grounded Theory, via semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of six experienced osteopaths and constant comparative analysis to identify themes.

Results

Three themes emerged: Breaking the ice - describing the menopause as a sensitive topic with social, personal, and professional barriers to explore it; Personal - not so personal - revealing the influence of practitioners' personal experiences of the menopause; and Storytelling - illustrating osteopaths’ narratives about patient interactions.

Conclusions

The three themes combined flexibly to form partially overlapping therapeutic approaches, underpinned by participants' personal experience of the menopause and conception of osteopathy. Sharing Stories, where personal disclosure is leveraged to enhance the rapport, with links to the Communicator therapeutic approach; Telling Stories, where the absence of personal experience led to a de-personalised narrative and elements of the Treater approach; and Changing the Story, where personal experience plays no role and the focus is on patients’ empowerment (Educator approach). Further research is needed to explore findings on osteopaths without personal experience of menopause and to evaluate osteopaths’ training to address sensitive topics.