Overview
An osteopath’s conception of practice reflects their understanding of skills, knowledge, and decision-making, spanning from ‘technical rationality’ to ‘professional artistry’ (Thomson et al., 2014). The Osteopaths’ Therapeutic Approaches Questionnaire (Osteo-TAQ) (Thomson et al. 2025, 2024a, 2022; Thomson and Anstiss 2020) was developed to assess these conceptions but has only been validated with practising osteopaths (Thomson et al. 2024b). Its applicability to osteopathy students remains unexplored. The purpose of this PhD is to generate an understanding of how students’ conceptions of practice develop during training and the findings have the potential to provide crucial insights for curriculum design, professional identity formation, and the continued integration of osteopathy into AHP settings.
This PhD proposal is part of a broader international collaborative programme of research utilising the Osteo-TAQ and other methods to investigate the nature of osteopathic practice across Australia, the UK, France, and New Zealand. This will be the first to understand how osteopathy students’ conceptions of practice evolve during their clinical training. The outcomes could directly improve osteopathy education by informing curriculum design and supporting professional identity formation, while the development of a validated student version of Osteo-TAQ (Osteo-TAQed) would provide educators with a valuable tool to assess and support student development, ultimately helping to better prepare graduates for modern healthcare settings.
By developing and embedding a validated research tool, generating long-term data, supporting doctoral training, fostering global collaborations, and driving knowledge exchange, the Osteo-TAQed study directly contributes to building a sustainable, high-quality research environment at HSU.
Project Contact:
Dr Oliver Thomson
Email: oliver.thomson@uco.ac.uk
Details
- Investigate changes in osteopathy students’ conceptions of practice during clinical training using the Osteo-TAQ.
- Validate the Osteo-TAQ for use with student populations (Osteo-TAQed).
- Explore how individual and contextual factors influence students’ conceptions of practice over time.
- Contribute to research capacity building in osteopathy education by providing validated tools and evidence-based recommendations.
A mixed methods approach will be used, integrating quantitative and qualitative data to examine changes in students’ conceptions of practice.
- Scoping Review: Review existing tools for assessing conceptions of practice in undergraduate healthcare education. Findings will inform refinements to the Osteo-TAQ for student use.
- Quantitative Study: Conduct longitudinal surveys with UK osteopathy students using the Osteo-TAQ, supplemented by validated tools assessing practice behaviours (ABS-MP, PABS-PT) and professional identity. Statistical analyses will track score changes over time and test validity.
- Qualitative Study: Use semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations (Toloui-Wallace et al. 2024) of clinical interactions to explore students’ experiences. Additional qualitative methods include video-prompted reflective interviews (Thomson, Petty, and Moore 2014) and audio diaries.
- Grounded Theory: Develop a theoretical model explaining how students’ conceptions of practice evolve and what factors influence their development as they transition into professional life.
- A validated Osteo-TAQed instrument for osteopathy students.
- A grounded theory model explaining how students’ conceptions of practice evolve during training.
- Insights into factors shaping professional identity in osteopathy students.
- Practical recommendations for improving educational quality and RKE infrastructure in osteopathy programs.
This project will:
- Strengthen research culture in osteopathy education by providing validated tools for student assessment.
- Support evidence-based curriculum design, ensuring graduates are well-prepared for professional practice.
- Promote collaboration and inclusivity, identifying factors that shape students’ development and professional identity.
- Advance HSU’s role as a leader in applied research, fostering knowledge exchange within the health sciences and osteopathy community.
Funding 
We have funding available via fee-waiver support for up to three UK home students. Applicants are asked to make it clear as part of their application that they are applying for this opportunity. Decisions will be made based on the excellence of the candidate.
Self-funded students are also welcome to apply for this project. Self-funded students can be UK home students or international students.
Availability
Available to both UK and International students.
Potential Supervisors
- Dr Oliver Thomson, Associate Professor, Doctoral Coordinator (London), UCO SoO
- Dr Jerry Draper-Rodi, Associate Professor, Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange UCO SoO
- Dr Brett Vaughan, Lecturer in Clinical Education, Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne, Australia
References
Thomson, Oliver P., and Vivien Anstiss. 2020. “The Development and Exploratory Analysis of the Osteopaths’ Therapeutic Approaches Questionnaire (Osteo-TAQ).” International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine: IJOM 37 (September):17–24.
Thomson, Oliver P., Gopi Anne McLeod, Michael Fleischmann, and Brett Vaughan. 2024a. “Development and Adaptation of the Osteopaths’ Therapeutic Approaches Questionnaire (Osteo-TAQ) for the Australian Osteopathic Profession – A Cognitive Interview Study.” International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine: IJOM 53 (September):100723.
Thomson et al., 2024b. “Therapeutic Approaches and Conceptions of Practice of Osteopaths in Australia – a National Cross-Sectional Study and Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Osteo-TAQ.” BMC Health Services Research 24 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11826-y.
Thomson, Oliver P., Nicola J. Petty, and Ann P. Moore. 2014. “Clinical Decision-Making and Therapeutic Approaches in Osteopathy – a Qualitative Grounded Theory Study.” Manual Therapy 19 (1): 44–51.
Thomson, Oliver P., Brett Vaughan, Kesava Sampath, Jerry Draper-Rodi, Michael Fleischmann, and Francesco Cerritelli. 2022. “The Osteopaths’ Therapeutic Approaches Questionnaire (Osteo-TAQ) – A Content Validity Study.” International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine: IJOM, July. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijosm.2022.07.001.
Thomson et al., (2025) A National Survey of Osteopaths’ Conceptions of Practice in France: Structural Validity of the Osteo-TAQfr and the Predominance of Technical Rationality (under review).
Toloui-Wallace, Joshua, Roma Forbes, Oliver P. Thomson, and Nathalia Costa. 2024. “Fluid Professional Boundaries: Ethnographic Observations of Co-Located Chiropractors, Osteopaths and Physiotherapists.” BMC Health Services Research 24 (1): 344.
Latest News
Discover and read all the latest news, press releases and happenings here at Health Sciences University.
We were proud to deliver a ground breaking and first of its kind session on AI and Digital Technologies in Physiotherapy and Healthcare to our final-year physiotherapy students.
Health Sciences University (HSU) recently hosted a thought-provoking panel discussion in celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Dr Mahitha Naidu has recently graduated from the MSc Podiatry (Pre registration) course at Health Sciences University.
Health Sciences University, in collaboration with Dorset HealthCare, has launched a new Brain Health Clinic on its Bournemouth campus.
Carla tells us more about her experience of the course so far and what she enjoys about being part of the HSU community.
Dan Egelstaff is a First Year student on the MSc Occupational Therapy (pre-registration) course. The degree at Health Sciences University appealed to Dan when he was working as a Learning Disabilities Support Worker during the Covid-19 pandemic.
