Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study
Background: Naturopathy is one of seven distinct traditional medical systems acknowledged by the World Health Organization. Naturopathic principles and philosophies encourage a focus on multiple body systems during case-taking and the design of treatments. Little is known about whether such teaching...
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Elsevier
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Integrative Medicine Research |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422020300561 |
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| author | Amie Steel Joshua Z. Goldenberg Jason A. Hawrelak Hope Foley Sophia Gerontakos Joanna E. Harnett Janet Schloss Rebecca Reid |
| author_facet | Amie Steel Joshua Z. Goldenberg Jason A. Hawrelak Hope Foley Sophia Gerontakos Joanna E. Harnett Janet Schloss Rebecca Reid |
| author_sort | Amie Steel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Naturopathy is one of seven distinct traditional medical systems acknowledged by the World Health Organization. Naturopathic principles and philosophies encourage a focus on multiple body systems during case-taking and the design of treatments. Little is known about whether such teaching translates into practice. This study aimed to characterise naturopathic practice as it relates to the identification of multiple physiological systems in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in collaboration with the World Naturopathic Federation. A survey capturing clinical diagnostic and treatment considerations for up to 20 consecutive patients was administered to naturopaths in 14 countries. Results: Naturopaths (n = 56) were mostly female (62.5%), aged between 36 and 45 years (37.5%), in practice for 5–10 years (44.6%), and consulting between 11 and 20 patients per week (35.7%). Participants completed the survey for 851 patient cases. Naturopaths reported a greater number of physiological systems relevant to clinical cases where the patients were working age (18–65 years) (IRR 1.3, p = .042), elderly (65 years and over) (IRR 1.4, p = .046), or considered by the naturopath to have a chronic health condition (IRR 1.2, p = .003). The digestive system was weakly associated with patients based on chronicity of the health complaint (V = .1149, p = .004), or having a musculoskeletal complaint (V = .1067, p = .002) autoimmune pathophysiology (V = .1681, p < .001), and considered relevant in respiratory (V = .1042, p = .002), endocrine (V = .1023, p = .003), female reproductive (V = .1009, p = .003), and integumentary (V = .1382, p < .001) systems. Conclusion: Naturopaths across the world adopt an integrative physiological approach to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic and complex health care complaints.. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cbd80c9d3d584d2d8a613cfcc825d3dc |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2213-4220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Integrative Medicine Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-cbd80c9d3d584d2d8a613cfcc825d3dc2025-08-20T02:00:45ZengElsevierIntegrative Medicine Research2213-42202020-12-019410.1016/j.imr.2020.100424Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational studyAmie Steel0Joshua Z. Goldenberg1Jason A. Hawrelak2Hope Foley3Sophia Gerontakos4Joanna E. Harnett5Janet Schloss6Rebecca Reid7Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Corresponding author at: Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Level 8, Building 10, 235-253 Jones St, Ultimo, NSW, Australia.Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Helfgott Research Institute, National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, USAAustralian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, AustraliaAustralian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Office of Research, Endeavour College of Natural Health, Brisbane, AustraliaAustralian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaAustralian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; The University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, AustraliaAustralian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Office of Research, Endeavour College of Natural Health, Brisbane, AustraliaOffice of Research, Endeavour College of Natural Health, Brisbane, AustraliaBackground: Naturopathy is one of seven distinct traditional medical systems acknowledged by the World Health Organization. Naturopathic principles and philosophies encourage a focus on multiple body systems during case-taking and the design of treatments. Little is known about whether such teaching translates into practice. This study aimed to characterise naturopathic practice as it relates to the identification of multiple physiological systems in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in collaboration with the World Naturopathic Federation. A survey capturing clinical diagnostic and treatment considerations for up to 20 consecutive patients was administered to naturopaths in 14 countries. Results: Naturopaths (n = 56) were mostly female (62.5%), aged between 36 and 45 years (37.5%), in practice for 5–10 years (44.6%), and consulting between 11 and 20 patients per week (35.7%). Participants completed the survey for 851 patient cases. Naturopaths reported a greater number of physiological systems relevant to clinical cases where the patients were working age (18–65 years) (IRR 1.3, p = .042), elderly (65 years and over) (IRR 1.4, p = .046), or considered by the naturopath to have a chronic health condition (IRR 1.2, p = .003). The digestive system was weakly associated with patients based on chronicity of the health complaint (V = .1149, p = .004), or having a musculoskeletal complaint (V = .1067, p = .002) autoimmune pathophysiology (V = .1681, p < .001), and considered relevant in respiratory (V = .1042, p = .002), endocrine (V = .1023, p = .003), female reproductive (V = .1009, p = .003), and integumentary (V = .1382, p < .001) systems. Conclusion: Naturopaths across the world adopt an integrative physiological approach to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic and complex health care complaints..http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422020300561NaturopathyIntegrative physiologyTraditional and complementary medicineIntegrative medicine |
| spellingShingle | Amie Steel Joshua Z. Goldenberg Jason A. Hawrelak Hope Foley Sophia Gerontakos Joanna E. Harnett Janet Schloss Rebecca Reid Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study Integrative Medicine Research Naturopathy Integrative physiology Traditional and complementary medicine Integrative medicine |
| title | Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study |
| title_full | Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study |
| title_fullStr | Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study |
| title_short | Integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice: Results of an international observational study |
| title_sort | integrative physiology and traditional naturopathic practice results of an international observational study |
| topic | Naturopathy Integrative physiology Traditional and complementary medicine Integrative medicine |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422020300561 |
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