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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Naturopaths’ mobilisation of knowledge and information in clinical practice: an international cross-sectional survey
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, Vol.21(1), pp.1-12
06/08/2021
PMCID: PMC8343215
PMID: 34362370
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Abstract
Background: The contemporary evidence-based practice model acknowledges the importance of patient preferences and clinician experience when applying evidence within a clinical setting. Knowledge mobilisation (KM) acknowledges the complexities of knowledge translation by recognising and respecting diversity in types of knowledge and how such diversity can influence health care and health care choices. While there has been considerable discussion on KM in health care, it has received little attention in the field of naturopathy. Despite naturopathy’s widespread international use, it is unclear how naturopathic practitioners (NPs) use and share knowledge and information in clinical practice. This study examines the mobilisation of knowledge amongst NPs internationally.
Methods: Online, international, cross-sectional survey of a self-selected sample of NPs from any country, that were either currently in clinical practice or had been in practice within the previous 12 months. The survey was administered in five languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German). Descriptive statistics were prepared for all survey items.
Results: The survey was completed by 478 NPs who reported using an average of seven (median = 7, SD = 2.6) information sources to inform patient care. NPs also drew on knowledge gained through patients sharing their perspectives of living with their health condition (Always/Most of the time: 89.3%). They mostly sought knowledge about how a treatment might benefit a patient, as well as knowledge about treatment safety and a better understanding of a patient’s health condition. NPs frequently reported sharing knowledge developed through consideration of the patient’s unique needs (83.3%), and primarily shared knowledge by producing information for the public (72.6%) and for patients (72.2%).
Conclusions: Based on these findings, it may be argued that NPs practice knowledge mobilisation; employing multiple forms and sources of knowledge, and mobilising knowledge to - as well as from - others. Due to their active engagement in patient and community education, NPs also may be considered knowledge brokers. In the context of the growing understanding of the complexities of knowledge translation and mobilisation in contemporary health care – and particularly within the context of implementation science – this study provides novel insights into an under-researched element of health services accessed by the community.
Details
- Title
- Naturopaths’ mobilisation of knowledge and information in clinical practice: an international cross-sectional survey
- Creators
- Amie Steel - Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology SydneyMatthew Leach - Southern Cross UniversityCaragh Brosnan - School of Humanities and Social Science, College of Human and Social Futures, University of NewcastleVicky Ward - Reader in Management, School of Management, University of St AndrewsIva Lloyd - World Naturopathic Federation
- Publication Details
- BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, Vol.21(1), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Identifiers
- 991012968371702368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
- Academic Unit
- School of Health and Human Sciences; National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article