If the Shoe Fits: Patient-centred Podiatry through Social Science Methodology and Theories.

• In Event: 577 - Section on Body and Embodiment Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Health, Expertise, and Embodiment

Abstract

Research from a previous ESRC funded project in the UK on footwear (2010-2013):‘If the Shoe Fits, Footwear, Identification and Transition’, provided rich data on embodied attitudes to the wearing of footwear which were gathered though research methods utilising focus groups, shoe log diaries, accompanied shopping trips, interviews, as well as engagement with shoe manufacturers. An unexpected, but very welcome level of interest in the findings were shown by public and private sector podiatrists. More specifically, the project’s findings proved to have relevance for podiatrists and the difficulty they have persuading the population in general to wear healthy footwear and, in the case of foot problems, to ensure that they wear shoes that will protect vulnerable feet (see Vernon et al., 2007).

This new research is concerned with podiatrists’ understanding of patients’ diverse motivations for choosing to act, or not, on their expert advice as to appropriate footwear for different medical conditions, and the wellbeing and economic implications for this advice not being followed in practice, over a sustained period of time. The paper will discuss how qualitative research with participants has enabled a more interactive and informed relationship, between podiatrists and patients, with the aim of furthering the health and wellbeing of patients and potentially saving hospital resources, which would be applicable in diverse countries. The paper will also address how the data from the project has produced an online toolkit, suitable for podiatrists' training, informed by social science concepts of identity, inequality and difference and methodologies.

Authors

• Victoria Robinson, University of York, UK

• Emily Nicholls, University of Portsmouth

• Lisa Farndon, Sheffield Teaching Hospital