Conferences

3rd Annual IN-CAM Symposium - Integrating CAM Research and Practice 

by Elizabeth Barberree

November 4 and 5, 2006 saw a meeting of the minds in Calgary, AB, with a variety of Complementary and Alternative Health Care clinicians and researchers coming together. A great mix of international and Canadian keynote speakers, workshops, breakout sessions and poster presentations provided something for everyone.

How do we measure the quality of the encounter between client and practitioner?  

You might have found yourself wondering how  to measure the outcomes that you actually feel in your practice. We know that some practitioners obtain better results with a client than others. Some believe that this has to do with the therapeutic bond between therapist and client and further, that practitioner empathy is key.

Dr. Stewart Mercer is a physician and a senior research fellow  in Glasgow, Scotland. Attendees at the conference had the privilege of hearing about a measure that he has developed and validated called the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE). This tool has been used to measure clients’ perception of quality of interaction with their practitioner. In developing the CARE measure qualitative results revealed that clients value, in order of importance, the time provided to them, a whole-person approach and being treated as an individual. As massage therapists, these are things that many of us provide each and every appointment.  

Dr. Mercer was mindful to develop the tool with the ability for it to be easily applied to daily practice. His work has shown that quality initial consultations are important in predicting outcomes of clients in both conventional care environments as well as complementary health practices. While listening to Dr. Mercier, I got the impression that to date, his team has not done any work with the CARE tool specific to massage therapists

  Use the CARE hyperlink to find out all about the questionnaire and how to use it!

Client-Centered Outcome Measuremen

We have all filled out questionnaires that bear little applicability to our own life experience. Dr. Charlotte Paterson has spent 20 years as a family physician in the United Kingdom, with the last 15 years focusing on investigation of the patient’s perspective, especially as it pertains to CAM practices. She has spent much of her career developing research designs that are appropriate for use by holistic therapies and complex interventions. Additionally, she has developed a valid patient-centred questionnaire called the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile (MYMOP) that allows each patient to choose which symptoms and activity that they would like to see changes in and then measure those. 

Dr. Paterson has worked hard to improve patient care by assisting patients to access complementary therapies alongside conventional care. This Integrative Medicine promises the best of both worlds. At the North American Symposium for Research in Integrative Medicine I found that several researchers in this field have already made use of Dr. Paterson’s MYMOP.

There is great opportunity to utilize this measure to quantify the often very qualitative client reports we experience in our daily massage therapy practices. It was truly a unique opportunity to meet the pioneering developer of this useful tool.

The Relationship Between Spirituality and Health: Hype  or Substance?

In his keynote address, Dr. John Toews, reflected on his experiences as a physician since 1969. Currently focused on medical education, he has developed a keen interest in spirituality and its effect on healing, which has been a popular topic in the last several years. Similar challenges exist in researching the phenomenon that people who have strong faith seem to do better in recovering from or managing illness, as with anecdotal-type observations.

Massage Therapy in Rehabilitation

As a therapist who is currently not actively involved in research, I was inspired by some of the shorter presentations that were particular to the fantastic work being done by massage therapists.  Anna Kania gave a short, yet very moving presentation about the experience she had attempting to integrate scar massage for burn care at a hospital in Cambodia. A poster outlining Anna’s case series work, in cooperation with Angela Growse, gave a real life example of how a few similar clinical experiences that an MT has can be organized into a significant research presentation. The poster outlined the effects of MT on pain management in complex cases for patients undergoing long-term rehabilitation at a Toronto rehab hospital.

Further Massage Therapy Reports: Qualitative and Blended Research Methods

Matthew van der Giessen spoke about his experience, as an educator, of integrating massage therapy students from his Somatics Institute into a primary care hospital in Edmonton as part of their practicum.  Also of note was a qualitative study of women’s experience with MT during high-risk pregnancy. Trish Dryden et al at Sunnybrook and Women’s College hospitals in Toronto undertook this study. These cases underscored the value of qualitative and blended research methods in the world that focuses primarily on quantitative measures.

Small Group Sessions

 The theme of the 2006 IN-CAM conference, integrating research and practice, was reflected in the themes of the small group workshops throughout the weekend.With sessions in building research capacity, to tips for developing and submitting a research proposal to assist in obtaining funding, to identifying opportunities for collaboration, and case reporting guidelines, there was a buzz in the air with fledgling researchers sitting alongside those who have been pioneers in CAHC research.

The Importance of Case Reports

 A sentiment that was clear is the need to start with clinical case reporting to build a solid foundation in providing an evidence base for CAM practice. This was apparent in Trish Dryden’s presentation of the work that she and Janet Kahn have done around clinical case reporting and the need to build research capacity in CAHC practitioners, including proper methods of reporting case studies. The Massage Therapy Foundation conducts an annual Case Report Contest that all enquiring students and practitioners should consider entering!

One of the workshop sessions was skillfully facilitated by Dr. Esther Suter, PhD to provide an interactive environment for discussion and support for those of us just entering the world of research. Participants learned the benefits of case reports and tools with which to successfully conduct these in our own practices. I came away with the belief that there is support for seeing my observations as a clinician develop into a paper worth publishing. 

“Report Card” of CAM Research in Canada

 Dr. Heather Boon, professor at University of Toronto and a researcher for (Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) anchored the keynote presenters.  Her extensive work with natural health products has positioned her on many interdisciplinary teams, both conventional and complementary.  As an educator, Dr. Boon walked us through a “report card” of CAM Research in Canada: Past, Present and Future.  The end result was a harsh, but largely realistic picture of the significant amount of work yet to be done in putting CAHC solidly on the map.  The exercise however, also served to emphasize the tremendous distance that we have already come, with recognition that Canada is one of the hotbeds for CAM research.  Key for the future is practitioner regulation and professionalization of CAM practices along with continuation and increase of collaboration and networking.

Conclusion

The event closed with exciting news of the IN-CAM Outcomes Database, which is now in pre-launch phase to ensure the system is debugged. This will provide a centralized resource where everyone will be able to access evaluation tools, like the MYMOP and the CARE, to support CAM reporting and continued building of an evidence base.

Congratulations to those who have done tremendous work in progressing CAHC to a level where it is integrated into conventional medical practices. It could easily be you too!

Biography

Elizabeth Barberree has been a practicing massage therapist since 1995, after graduating from the Professional Institute of Massage Therapy in Saskatoon. She is the immediate Past-President of the Massage Therapist Association of Alberta. She served five years in that position and helped steer the Association through many important developments.

Elizabeth strongly believes that furthering the evidence base for massage therapy through research is vital in achieving continued recognition from other health care providers and the general public.