Positive Health Online

Abstract

BOON, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Ontario Canada, describes naturopathic practitioners with 2 distinct world views - holistic and scientific and explores the relationship of practitioners' socialisation experiences and practice patterns within these two world views.

Background

Methodology

Data were assembled using a variety of techniques, including: 1) a 14-page questionnaire posted to all 296 naturopathic practitioners licensed in Canada; 2) a participant observation study conducted at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM); 3) open-ended interviews with 16 students attending CCNM and 41 naturopathic practitioners.

Results

Individuals with both holistic and scientific world views entered naturopathic training; none of the practitioners interviewed reported a change in world view while attending naturopathic college. Practitioners, however, reported a newly-found appreciation of the "other" world view upon completion of their studies, indicating the occurrence of a socialisation effect. Many decisions involved in establishing a practice and seeing patients are affected by the practitioners' world views. These included, for example, distinct differences in the way that practitioners with differing world views chose treatment modalities. Those practitioners with scientific world views chose treatments based upon scientific evidence, whereas practitioners with holistic world views explored the patient's spirituality and their own intuition regarding treatment decision . Practitioners with holistic world views reported significantly longer patient visits than those with scientific world views.

Conclusion

The data presented suggest that world view influences perceptions of socialisation experiences and social situations and modulates the effects of both upon practice patterns.

References

Boon H. Canadian naturopathic practitioners: holistic and scientific world views. Soc Sci Med 46(9): 1213-25. May 1998.

Comment

This was a most interesting and highly creatively designed study, which demonstrates the huge variations in practices even among practitioners of the same discipline, which although appearing to make plain common sense, is a bit of a stark result when placed within a research context. In North America, naturopaths train and can opt to specialise in several different modalities, including nutrition, acupuncture, homoeopathy and herbal medicine, wide-ranging treatment universes each considered individually. No wonder the tremendous scope for differing treatment approaches.