Journal article
Characteristics of the Australian complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) workforce
Australian Journal of Herbal Medicine, Vol.26(2), pp.58-65
2014
Metrics
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Abstract
The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) workforce is the third largest occupational group in the Australian health sector. Yet the profile of this workforce is not well understood. This study aims to provide new insight into the Australian CAM workforce by exploring the demographic and practice characteristics of this occupational group. Members of the National Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA) were invited to participate in a descriptive, online survey. A response rate of 35.4% (n=399) was obtained. Participants were primarily female (86.7%), aged between 41-60 years (56.1%) and resided in a major city (61.7%). The majority of respondents (37.1%) held an undergraduate degree as their highest qualification, with 34.6% holding a postgraduate qualification and 27.6% holding an advanced diploma or lower-level qualification. Respondents most commonly practiced naturopathy (61.6%), herbal medicine (51.9%), nutrition (15.2%), massage therapy (14.4%) or another discipline (20.2%), with the majority of participants being in practice in their main modality for less than 10 years (47.6%).
Details
- Title
- Characteristics of the Australian complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) workforce
- Creators
- Matthew John Leach (Author) - University of South AustraliaErica McIntyre (Author) - Charles Sturt UniversityJane E Frawley (Author) - University of Technology Sydney
- Publication Details
- Australian Journal of Herbal Medicine, Vol.26(2), pp.58-65
- Publisher
- National Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA)
- Identifiers
- 991012911993902368
- Academic Unit
- National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article