Chiropractic Doctors' Philosophical Diversity Causing a Global Branding Challenge - Research Paper Example

CHIROPRACTIC DOCTORS PHILOSOPHICAL DIVERSITY Causing a Global Branding Challenge Overview Background Chiropractic has been in place since 1895 when it was founded by DD Palmer who believed that the fundamental function of the human being is focused on an individual’s innate intelligence (quote). Since this time, the chiropractic has become an accepted mode of health care where professionals who are known as chiropractic doctors use drug-free approaches undertake diagnosis, treatment and prevention of neuromusculoskeletal disorders (quote). Several factors can be associated with the success of chiropractic, including the extent to which most members of the public view it to be a safe way to healthcare. This is largely because of the absence of direct drug usage in the practice, knowing that most patients associate the use of drugs or medicine to side effects and adverse effects on their health (quote). This position notwithstanding, quote (year) lamented about a situation where chiropractic has failed to live up to its potential utility, claiming practitioners have not done much to promote the brand which they represent. What this means that is that there are fragmented philosophies, ideas and beliefs behind chiropractic, which makes it difficult for practitioners to have a single consensus based on which they can promote chiropractic as a global brand. Problem Statement From the background given above, the research was conducted to look into the problem of chiropractic doctor’s philosophical diversity and how this is causing a global branding challenge for this sector of healthcare. Indeed what make the identified research problem more revealing are recent legal challenges that the chiropractic profession has faced from the medical profession, accusing the former as lacking credible methodologies (quote). Meanwhile, quote (year) noted that the implementation of methodologies in the chiropractic profession is directly related to the philosophy of practice held by chiropractic doctors. This means that as there continues to be divergent philosophical positions some of which are religiously based on DD Palmer’s ideas and others on more recent scientific advancements, the basis of the medical profession’s accusations will continue to hold. But as chiropractics go on with such legal challenges around its practice, one would expect that the need to creating a global brand will continue to be very challenging. Aim and objectives Given the problem identified above, the researcher went into this project with the aim of finding evidence to the fact that diversity in philosophies of professional chiropractics has actually led to a global brand crisis where it is difficult to have a single global stand or viewpoint for identifying chiropractic. To achieve the aim, the following specific objectives will be pursued: 1. To find the different philosophical positions based on which chiropractic doctors in the United States practice. 2. To measure the extent of fragmentation patients, the community and cultures associate with chiropractic as a profession. 3. To identity the extent to which perception of philosophical diversity has created a brand crisis for chiropractics. 4. To understand the sustainability risk associated with chiropractic and the protection of public health based on the identified problem. Significance Given the important place of chiropractic in the promotion and protection of public health, one would appreciate that any research that concerns the sustainability of chiropractic is very important. Indeed the issue of philosophical diversity can be directly related to sustainability of the profession because when the perceived brand crisis continues to persist, popularity with the profession will go down (quote). Meanwhile, quote (year) noted that branding is a very important concept in any competitive market where threat of substitute products and services is considered an external competitive factor. This is so because through branding, service providers are able to identify themselves easily with customers so that customers will choose their products and services over others (quote). It would be noted that chiropractic doctors are in a competitive market with medical doctors, both of who use different approaches to render healthcare. It is therefore expected that chiropractic doctors will have a stronger global brand through the creation of a collective professional bargain that helps to effectively communicate the importance of their approaches and philosophies to patients. When successfully completed, this project will set the pace for that brand creation through the collective professional bargain that is centered on unison with philosophy of practice to begin. This is because chiropractic doctors in the United States will come to appreciate the harm that existing philosophical diversity is causing and the need to guard against it. Research Questions The collection of data for the study will focus on answering the following questions: 1. What philosophical positions are used in chiropractic in the United States? 2. Does the public think there is fragmentation in chiropractic in the United States? 3. How does the perception of the public affect the creation of global brand for chiropractic? 4. In what ways will the absence of a global brand affect the sustainability of chiropractic profession? Foundations of the project design 1150 There are existing works of literature which serve as the basis or foundation based on which the current study is structured. This section of the paper seek to review literature in some of these areas as a way of collecting secondary data to understand the issues raised in the specific objectives and research questions in detail. The section is thus made up of themes that are reflected in the specific objectives and research questions. 183 x 2 Philosophical perspectives in chiropractic healthcare D.D Palmer who was the founder of chiropractic referred to the practice as a science of healing without drugs. The main focus of treatment however centers on the manipulation of the musculoskeletal system to bringing relief to patients (quote). Because of the broader conception created with the delivery of healing without the use of drugs, there are several lines of beliefs and philosophies that have evolved, all of which focus on different approaches to delivering care without the use of medicine. In a study by quote (year), two major lines of chiropractic belief system constructs were identified. These were the testable principle and untestable metaphor. From these two belief system constructs, quote (year) identified two general philosophical perspectives that chiropractic doctors have based on to practice over the years. The first philosophical perspective is the materialistic philosophy, which is directly related to the testable principle. The second philosophical perspective is vitalistic, which is also connected directly to the untestable metaphor (quote). Writing on the presence of philosophical perspectives in chiropractic, quote (year) emphasized that philosophical perspectives help to determine the approach that chiropractic doctors take to practice. As far as the relationship between chiropractic philosophy and methodological practice is concerned, quote (year) indicated that practitioners who hold the materialistic philosophy practice predominantly based on the use of chiropractic or spinal adjustment approach. What this means is that the materialistic philosophy focus largely on restoration of structural integrity and thus aim at achieving improvement of health status in patients. Because of this, the scientific orientation of materialism philosophical orientation is said to be an experimental as it makes use of very practical methodologies which highlight on the explicit process orientation (quote). quote (year) mentioned that a distinctive quality that the materialistic philosophy has it the fact that it presents a practice attitude that can be said to be patient or situation centered. This means that practitioners using this philosophical orientation base the attitude of their practice on what they see in the patient or the situation presented to them. The vitalistic philosophical perspective is different from the materialism in number of ways. For example in the vitalistic perspective, the scientific orientation is generally descriptive. Because of this, practitioners use this philosophy as a practice by focusing on the doctor or the model that is found to be most situations instead of focusing on the patient (quote). Creating a global brand for chiropractic health care According to quote (year), branding is an important concept in marketing, especially when it comes to the marketing of competitive products and services. Meanwhile, chiropractic health care service can be noted to be such as a competitive service which needs to be marketed to customers. The reason this is said is that the health care services provided by chiropractic doctors can also be provided by most other types of healthcare service providers (quote). Some of these include general medical doctors, specialist medical doctors, physical therapists, and other alternative practitioners such as herbalists, naturopathic doctors, and acupuncturist. What makes chiropractic service provision particularly competitive against the others is that most forms of chiropractic health care in the United States are rendered as private healthcare, which means that they are not integrated into traditional public hospitals (quote). in situations like this, private practitioners and chiropractic as an institution or sector of healthcare have to focus on branding as a means of making the profession popular among members of the general public. This is because quote (year) noted that through branding, services are given a unique and easily identifiable identity based on which members of the public select the service over others. Currently, there is lack of global brand for chiropractic healthcare in the United States, which can be attributed to several factors. One of the reasons that can be assigned to the lack of global brand is the perceived fragmented philosophical orientations based on which practitioners deliver their care and methodologies (quote). quote (year) lamented that because of the philosophical diversity, it is difficult for chiropractic doctors to come together as defending the same type of healthcare service which is chiropractic, which the public must see as an alternative to medicinal care. Instead of the united voice and campaign, practitioners defend their individual methodologies, which is not a powerful means to create a brand for the sector. To deal with the situation, there are a number of branding strategies that stakeholders within the chiropractic healthcare sector can use. One such branding strategy that quote (year) is the need to see consumer engagements in a way that others don’t. What this means is that the chiropractic practitioners must come together as a union or team that tries to establish the most fundamental health needs of customers that they all solve, regardless of the philosophy they hold. Once such fundamental health needs are established, the union will gain a common voice in the form of what to tell the public as a reason to use chiropractic health care. There is also a branding strategy which is directly related to the first. This will require the chiropractic practitioners to establish an identity that is easily relatable. This means that when a single work or symbolism is given, it should be possible to associate that to chiropractic healthcare (quote). Given the extent of emphasis chiropractic places on the neuromusculoskeletal system, it should be possible to create an identity around the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. Or simply put, it should be possible to create an identity around the spine. To do this effectively, all chiropractic doctors may be required to have a spine that is designed in a particular way as part of their sign post or labels. All forms of public education and promotion must also be centered round the spine as a symbol. As this is done, it will be easier to draw the attention of the general public to chiropractic as soon as the spine is mentioned or used in a publicity context (quote). Other strategies include the need to create a lifestyle platform that inspires people and communicates hope. This can be done by largely educating the public on the importance of chiropractic to complete public health care. Impact of branding on sustainability of chiropractic health care Once chiropractic is popularized and becomes a common brand that everyone can easily identify with, there will be the possibility of attaining sustainability for the profession. Sustainability can be said to be attained when the profession can be guaranteed of continued practice in the future which is filled with progressive patronage (quote). By implication, it should not be enough to have chiropractic in the future but the future existence of chiropractic should be characterized with growth. Meanwhile, quote (year) saw branding as a means to achieving sustainability as branding helps to create competitive advantage through brand equity. In a competitive market, a company or in this case a service is said to have brand equity if consumers will select it over others because of how long the product or service has been around, and how well the product or service has performed (quote). This means that without a brand created for a product or service, it is not possible to think about brand equity. Meanwhile competitive advantage is such an important phenomenon for competition and sustainability that no one in business can choose to ignore it and expect to grow. One major advantage that will make chiropractic have brand equity very easily when it is able to create a global brand is that the practice has been in place for a very long time and so creating a brand will merely draw the attention of people to it. Action plan 5 Research method The action plan was prepared with the aim of collecting data that directly helped to answer the research questions set in the first section of the paper. It would be noted that the research questions were based on the specific objectives of the study, which was also based on the research aim. This means that by answering the research questions through data collection, the specific objectives, and by extension the aim of the study will be achieved. To collect data that directly addressed the nature of research questions, the researcher selected the use of mixed research method. This is a research method that makes use of both qualitative research and quantitative research (quote). The rationale for selecting the mixed research method is in the structure of the research questions which are made up of both qualitative and quantitative questions. To achieve the qualitative aspect of the study, the action plan focused on the use of secondary data on philosophical diversity in chiropractic profession and the impact of this on branding for the profession. This means that in the qualitative study, there was no need to use any mathematical and statistical indices (quote). The quantitative aspect of the action plan however involved the use of primary data collection, where a questionnaire was presented to a group of respondents. By nature of the quantitative study, the outcomes from the questionnaire shall be analyzed through the use of mathematical indices. Research design In line with the qualitative aspect of the study, there has been extensive review of literature, which formed the foundations of the project design. As part of the quantitative method, the action plan focused on the selection of the survey research design. As explained by quote (year), a survey research design an approach to data collection where the researcher collects data from a sample of a larger population and uses the views and opinions of the sample to represent the collective perception of the population. The rationale for selecting a survey was because the researcher wanted to collect data from a very broad setting where it would be possible to have a true reflection of public opinion on philosophical diversity in the chiropractic profession and the impact of this on the profession. Quote (year) however warned that before the use of a survey can be considered credible to represent the represent the opinion of the larger population from which data was collected, it is important to ensure that the responses are gathered from a fairly represented sample. In the light of this, the survey took place from a very wide research setting where it was possible to have respondents from as many different demographic backgrounds as possible. Population and sample To effectively execute the action plan through primary data collection, the researcher identified a research setting from which the data collection would take place. The population within the research setting refers to all people with whom there is some level of likeliness of collecting data from them. The population comprised people from several regions within the United State. The population was comprised largely of members of the general public who were above 18 years, had completed a minimum of high school, and were above the poverty line. Of this, the researcher saw that there could be more participants than could be handled within the time frame set for the study. In the light of this, a random sampling technique was used to select 120 people who would respond to the questionnaire. Random sampling was used as it guaranteed the fairness of the selection process. In the opinion of quote (year), most surveys have suffered generalizability of their findings because the researchers fail to ensure fairness and balance in the selection of participants. Using the random sampling technique therefore helped to deal with this situation. The random sampling was used by involving the first 120 people who gave consent to be part of the survey. Instrument The research instrument refers to the tool used by the researcher in collecting data from the respondents (quote). As it has been elaborated in various aspects of this section, the research instrument used was a questionnaire. The questionnaire is basically a set of questions presented to the respondents to be answered through writing (quote). Because the primary data collection took place as a form of quantitative action plan, the researcher used close ended questions for this purpose. Close ended questions come with predetermined options out of which the respondents select as part of their answers. This is done in order to ensure evenness with the line of answers so as to make the quantitative analysis of responses easier. For this study, the questionnaire was used to focus on questions that reflected the overall research questions set in the first section of the paper. This was done so that by way of analyzing the responses from the questionnaire the research questions and objectives of the study would be indirectly addressed. This means that questions on the questionnaire focused on the attitude of the respondents towards chiropractic and the factors that influenced the attitudes. There were also questions that focused on the perception of the respondents about the chiropractic. Data collection procedure The data collection procedure formed the highlighting point in the implementation of the action plan. At this point, the researcher engaged in the real process of collecting data from the respondents who were sampled. In other to warrant the objectivity and neutrality of the opinions collected, the researcher made use of survey monkey. This is an online procedure that requires the researcher to post the questionnaire on the website. The respondents are then given access to the website to answer the questions. Out of the 120 respondents expected, the questionnaire was attended to by 106 respondents. This means that the data collection took place among 88.33% of the targeted population. Because the study was a mixed research, there was also a component of the data collection procedure that emphasized on the exclusive use of secondary data, which took place as a form of literature and theoretical review. The secondary data collection was engaged to focus on different theories behind chiropractic philosophy, chiropractic branding and chiropractic competition. The reason for focusing the secondary data collection for these areas was that the respondents used were not chiropractic professionals who could give any form of professional opinions and views about the subject matter. The use of literature was thus noted to be the best means by which all available information necessary for achieving the objectives of the study could be found. Ethical consideration For professional research of this nature, the need to observe ethical consideration with data collection procedures is very important. This is because the ethical considerations define the extent to which the researcher conducts the study in a manner that is considered as acceptable for academic practice (quote). One factor that made the observation of ethical consideration particularly important for this study was because of the human subjects involved in the study. Greater part of the ethical considerations focused on promoting the anonymity and confidentiality of the respondents. This is because it was important that the privacy of the respondents would be respected. Using the survey monkey helped the researcher in achieving this to a very large extent. This is because the respondents did not have to disclose their identities in any way. Rather the respondents had to focus largely on the answering of the questions from the questionnaire. What is more, physical interaction with the respondents was also avoided. Because of this, chances that the identities of the respondents would be revealed were unlikely. In terms of the secondary data collection also, the researcher ensured that all sources from which ideas were taken were appropriately acknowledge in both the in-text and end-of-text of the study. Discussion and Conclusions 6.5 The primary and secondary data collected helped in revealing several important data about the research topic. This chapter is used to present, analyze and discuss the key findings major from the data collection processes. Because the study was carried out as a mixed research, the analysis and discussion will also take place with the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In all, finding made from secondary sources shall be presented in a qualitative manner whiles those from primary sources shall be presented in a quantitative manner. To ensure that the whole study is well connected with each section, this section is presented according themes based on the specific objectives and research questions set in the first chapter. After the discussion on the findings, a conclusion shall be given to sum the whole research up. 156 x 2 Philosophical perspectives used in chiropractic in the United States The secondary data collected have emphasized that there are several differences in practice when it comes to chiropractic. In terms of philosophical perspectives however, two major lines of belief systems exist, which are vitalism and materialism (quote). As far as vitalistic philosophies are concerned, there are chiropractic doctors who argue and believe that the origin of holism in chiropractic should be used in practice, where the health of the individual is said to be affected by everything in the person’s environment. Discussing this philosophical point of view, it would be said that the vitalism philosophy makes chiropractic a highly expanded scope of wellness practice that embraces all possible alternatives to healthcare including spiritual or existential dimension (quote). This may however be criticized by many, noting that the very basis on which chiropractic was started was with emphasis on the neuromusculoskeletal. Vitalism philosophers however defend their position stating that there is sufficient justification to suggest that people are not only made up of the physical (quote). Materialism philosophical perspective is contrary to what has been stressed above. This is because materialism focuses more on reductionism, where the emphasis of practice is on causes and cures (quote). Because of how limited the scope of practical definition of the materialistic perspective is, it would be identified as a philosophical position from which it is possible to have several operational definitions and thus lend itself to series of scientific inquiry (quote). Discussing this philosophical perspective, it can be praised for the extent to which it helps in simplifying the adaptation of practice for patients. This philosophical perspective however limits the demand of patients who prefer the doctor/model centered approach to practice (quote). In line with the research problem, it would be said that the differences in philosophies generally create a major difficulty for patients when selecting the type of chiropractic doctor to use. For those who cannot go through the dilemma of selection therefore, they are likely to settle with medical practitioners. Public perception and attitude towards chiropractic in the United States Through primary data collection, the perception and attitude of the public towards chiropractic in the United States were collected. Of the questions that were posed to the respondents, there were two that focused very directly on this theme. The first had to do with how familiar the respondents were with chiropractic health care. The responses gathered from the respondents are given in the chart below. Figure 1: Level of respondent familiarity with chiropractic From figure 1, it is very easy to state that there is a relatively low level of familiarity with chiropractic healthcare among the respondents. This is because the modal rating was for the answer of ‘slightly familiar’, which had 29.31%. Surprisingly, as many as 25.86% of respondents were not familiar with chiropractic health care at all while only 6.9% said there were very familiar. Those who were extremely familiar were 16.66% as 23.28% were moderately familiar. There was also a question to know if respondents were insured for chiropractic services. The results produced from this question are given below. Figure 2: Insurance for chiropractic services Figure 2 shows that majority of the respondents are not insured for chiropractic services, even though among the number, 12.26% were willing to pay cash for chiropractic services. Relating this to findings from figure one, it can be discussed that the trend of public attitude and perception towards chiropractic health care is not very impressive. This is because the public fail to show adequate commitment to chiropractic. This really confirms that there is a core problem created with the profession. As stressed by quote (year), a repeated consciousness of the public on the importance of a service would increase people’s familiar and readiness to insure themselves for the service. Based on this, there is a simple implication that not much has been done by way of communicating the ideologies of chiropractic health care to the public. Impact of public perception and attitude towards global brand creation for chiropractic Data collected from secondary sources have justified the fact that the need to create a global brand for chiropractic health care is very necessary. Global brand as used in this context may refer to the need to having a common modality of practice and philosophy with which all chiropractic doctors in the United States can be identified (quote). This is because once such form of brand is created it is easier to communicate the usefulness and importance of the profession to the public. But as the trend of results on public perception and attitude towards chiropractic shows, this form of brand has not been created as at now. The reason this is said is that services with good global brands are easily identifiable with people (quote). This is because it is very common for the people to hear about such services in the media and in other places of engagements. As people hear about the services and get themselves educated by it, it becomes easier for them to choose to try or adapt to the services (quote). Relating the absence of a strong global brand presence for chiropractic to the philosophical diversity, it can be said that branding has not taken place because there has not been a united voice with which practitioners will defend what they do. This is because whenever diversity exists, individual players tend to fight to the defense of what they believe in (quote). This means that instead of chiropractic doctors to join efforts together in campaigning to the public to use chiropractic services, the attention of the doctors will be on defending why the philosophies they use in practicing is the right one. Meanwhile, chiropractic doctors have every avenue expected to unite in promoting their brand. This is said because quote (year) noted that almost all chiropractic doctors hold the belief that the spine is the fundamental gateway to health and that the relationship between the spine and health are mediated through the nervous system. With such a fundamental belief, it is possible for the profession to focus on this fundamental belief instead of focusing on their fragmented philosophies. Sustainability of the chiropractic profession In order to know how sustainable chiropractic health care is, primary data was collected to compare the rate of preference and selection of the use of chiropractic doctors to other healthcare service providers with who chiropractic can be said to be in competition with. The results are showed and discussed below. Figure 3: Health services used by respondents in time past Figure 3 gives the current popularity level with the usage of chiropractic healthcare, based on which it is possible to determine the future of the profession. From the figure, it can be seen that the usage of services of medical doctors who practice both as general doctors and specialist doctors far outweigh the usage of service by chiropractic doctors. Even more, a lot of respondent have used the services of physical therapists than they have used chiropractic services. Relating this to all the three other themes, it is very easy to state that until something drastic is done, the sustainability of chiropractic healthcare is questionable. This is because, it has already been seen that the profession is not familiar among the public. Also, there is a weak global brand for the profession. If with all these issues the rate of usage is low, it means there could be a diminishing relevance for the profession (quote). To control this situation, it will be very important that there will be a rejuvenation of the popularity of the profession and its importance to the public. As it has been emphasized time and again, this can be done with a very simple focus on giving the profession a new global brand. It has come a time that when chiropractic health care is mentioned, almost everyone will have an idea of what is being said and the importance of what it offers. It is also important that people will show much commitment towards the use of chiropractic by insuring for the service. Conclusion This study was started with the aim of finding the impact of philosophical diversity on the creation of global brand for the chiropractic profession. To achieve the aim, secondary and primary data were collected. Based on the findings and discussions presented above, it can indeed be concluded that there are major philosophical diversities among chiropractic doctors. As much as the differences in philosophies represent a sense of liberalism with the practice of chiropractic, it also goes a long way to create a brand disconnect for the profession. This means that it is very difficult for global chiropractic doctors, particularly those in the United States to have a single image or uniqueness with which they can be identified. This creates a poses a major challenge for the future of the profession because it makes it very difficult to have a common voice with which chiropractic can be promoted. Meanwhile, chiropractic can be said to be a perfect competition with other health sectors including medicine. As those in the other sectors have a unified voice through which they champion their interests and explain their practice to the public, they get the most favorable competitive advantage on the market. This is because communication has been noted to be a very important tool through which consumers are convinced on the use of a particular product or service. Until now, the chiropractic profession lacks such will power to emphasize on communication between there are divergent voices as created through the philosophical diversity with which chiropractic doctors practice. Read More