Valuing osteopathy: What are (our) professional values and how do we teach them?

Abstract 

This paper explores the role that values play in professional practice, in particular, osteopathic practice. Although there is a degree of ambiguity about what they are, values guide human behaviour, though it is not clear whether behaviour is determined by values, or whether values emerge from the practice behaviour of professionals. The paper argues that professions use values in complex and often implicit ways to guide behaviour in uncertain practice situations. Professions are distinguished from trades and crafts by their dependence on values and the theoretical underpinning of what they do. John Sadler's definition of values in medical practice and five areas where they are found provides a framework for beginning to identify osteopathic values. It is argued that osteopaths must engage in deep reflexion on what osteopathy is in the 21st Century and that this has implications for education as well as practice.

Keywords: Values, Osteopathic values, Professional values, Osteopathic practice, Professions, Professional