Skip to main content

Table 1 Interview Guide (final version)

From: Meaning and challenges in the practice of multiple therapeutic massage modalities: a combined methods study

1.

Could you briefly describe the manual therapy trainings that you have taken? We'll get to the details of them later.

2.

I'd like to get a little more depth on each of those now. Can we start with the first training you did. (prompt for reasons for that training, what it included, how long, practicum/cases studies and clinic time. Importance in practice now.)

3.

What about the next trainings you took? (prompt for reasons on why chosen, etc. Importance in practice now.)

4.

Did practice setting influence your choice of trainings?

5.

Did the initial training influence your style or current approach to your work?

6.

How do you use these therapies in your practice? (prompt for defining separation or mixing of therapies, any specific training on combining, attitudes, concerns, reasons, etc.)

7.

How do you choose which therapies to use together? What are the influences on your decision to use one technique or therapy over another?

8.

What forms of feedback do you use? How do you know when you are done in a specific area or using a specific technique/therapy?

9.

What was your process for learning how to use therapies together like this?

10.

Have some techniques or your experience changed the way you practice other techniques? Is this common for you? In what ways?

11.

Do you think that your later training and experience has changed you such that you could no longer offer your modalities as purely as when you first learned them? Could you provide a pure therapy if you had to?

12.

If you are combining therapies like this, how do you negotiate consent?

13.

Given what we've been discussing, what do you think about the idea of using a set routine for therapy × in a research project. Does it matter that switching/blending therapies might make it hard to research or evaluate what you do? (If time, explore a bit more about the use of evidence or perceived barriers for use in their practice.)

14.

Do you think that research and regulation are linked?

15.

My final question is from a result in the questionnaire part of the project where I asked if you treat people who cannot perform activities of daily living without your treatments. I'd like to get a sense of your understanding of what "activities of daily living" means.

16.

Is there anything else about the decisions, use, or training in therapies that you'd like me to know before we wrap up?