Learning to become an osteopath in Italy: a qualitative study of first-year students in a newly established university programme.
17 affiliations
- 1School of Physiotherapy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. [email protected].
- 2Escuela de Osteopatia de Madrid, Verona, Italy. [email protected].
- 3Healthcademia, Verona, Italy. [email protected].
- 4Escuela de Osteopatia de Madrid, Verona, Italy.
- 5Healthcademia, Verona, Italy.
- 6School of Osteopathy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 7School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 8Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
- 9Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 10Section of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 11Neurorehabilitation Unit, Department of Neurosciences, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 12NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, USA.
- 13Clinical-based Human Research department, Foundation COME Collaboration, Pescara, Italy.
- 14Escola Superior de Saúde Atlântica, Barcarena, Portugal.
- 15School of Physiotherapy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- 16Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Sports, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Spain.
- 17Health Sciences University Centre for PAIn Research, Bournemouth, UK.
Abstract
Objective
To explore how first-year undergraduate osteopathy students construct their emerging professional identity during early education within the first Italian university-based osteopathy degree programme, with particular attention to the role of embodied learning, early clinical exposure, and institutional uncertainty.Design
A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Setting
A newly established undergraduate osteopathy degree programme at the University of Verona, Italy.Participants
A total of 17 first-year osteopathy students were involved through purposive sampling to capture variation in age, gender and educational background.Focus of the study
Students' meaning-making of emerging professional identity, with particular attention to embodied learning, early clinical exposure, relational recognition, and institutional uncertainty.Results
Four themes were developed from the analysis. (1) "Entering an undefined profession: between privilege and uncertainty", where students experienced enrolment as meaningful while navigating an evolving institutional context. (2) "Learning through the body: from studying osteopathy to feeling like an osteopath", highlighting the gap between theoretical knowledge and embodied confidence. (3) "The internship: legitimacy, exposure and vulnerability", where clinical encounters were described as simultaneously supporting and challenging students' emerging sense of professional legitimacy. (4) "Being an osteopath-in-training: a provisional, fragile and relational identity", illustrating how participants described negotiating their emerging professional identity through interaction, recognition, and institutional uncertainty.Conclusion
Early professional identity in a newly established osteopathy programme was experienced as provisional, embodied, and relational. Participants reported their early professional identity as closely linked not only to clinical learning, but also to the institutional conditions in which they learned, practised, and began to see themselves as future professionals. Our findings suggest that participants experienced institutional uncertainty not merely as a contextual challenge but as an important dimension of how they made sense of their developing competencies, legitimacy and recognition during early professional education. Recognising and supporting these processes may strengthen educational practice in health professions that are newly integrated into higher education, as well as in other evolving academic contexts.
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BibTeX
@article{cazzarolli2026learning,
title = {{Learning to become an osteopath in Italy: a qualitative study of first-year students in a newly established university programme.}},
author = {Clizia Cazzarolli and Andrea Turrina and Laura Furri and Alvisa Palese and Maria Gabriella Landuzzi and Nicola Smania and Francesco Cerritelli and Jorge Eduardo Esteves and Giacomo Rossettini},
journal = {BMC medical education},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12909-026-10045-9},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42928246},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Learning to become an osteopath in Italy: a qualitative study of first-year students in a newly established university programme.
AU - Clizia Cazzarolli
AU - Andrea Turrina
AU - Laura Furri
AU - Alvisa Palese
AU - Maria Gabriella Landuzzi
AU - Nicola Smania
AU - Francesco Cerritelli
AU - Jorge Eduardo Esteves
AU - Giacomo Rossettini
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/29
JO - BMC medical education
DO - 10.1186/s12909-026-10045-9
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42928246
AB - Objective To explore how first-year undergraduate osteopathy students construct their emerging professional identity during early education within the first Italian university-based osteopathy degree programme, with particular attention to the role of embodied learning, early clinical exposure, and institutional uncertainty.Design A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Setting A newly established undergraduate osteopathy degree programme at the University of Verona, Italy.Participants A total of 17 first-year osteopathy students were involved through purposive sampling to capture variation in age, gender and educational background.Focus of the study Students' meaning-making of emerging professional identity, with particular attention to embodied learning, early clinical exposure, relational recognition, and institutional uncertainty.Results Four themes were developed from the analysis. (1) "Entering an undefined profession: between privilege and uncertainty", where students experienced enrolment as meaningful while navigating an evolving institutional context. (2) "Learning through the body: from studying osteopathy to feeling like an osteopath", highlighting the gap between theoretical knowledge and embodied confidence. (3) "The internship: legitimacy, exposure and vulnerability", where clinical encounters were described as simultaneously supporting and challenging students' emerging sense of professional legitimacy. (4) "Being an osteopath-in-training: a provisional, fragile and relational identity", illustrating how participants described negotiating their emerging professional identity through interaction, recognition, and institutional uncertainty.Conclusion Early professional identity in a newly established osteopathy programme was experienced as provisional, embodied, and relational. Participants reported their early professional identity as closely linked not only to clinical learning, but also to the institutional conditions in which they learned, practised, and began to see themselves as future professionals. Our findings suggest that participants experienced institutional uncertainty not merely as a contextual challenge but as an important dimension of how they made sense of their developing competencies, legitimacy and recognition during early professional education. Recognising and supporting these processes may strengthen educational practice in health professions that are newly integrated into higher education, as well as in other evolving academic contexts.
SN - 1472-6920
ER -