Amie Steel,1 Cherie Caut,1 and Tina Hausser2,3
ABSTRACT
Naturopathy is a traditional medicine system originating in Europe and is practiced in 108 countries worldwide, representing the most geographically diverse traditional medicine in the modern era. However, the European roots of the naturopathic profession are still prevalent, with just over half of the international population of naturopathic practitioners in European countries. Despite the history and size of the naturopathic profession in Europe, only 8.8% of the more than 2000 peer-reviewed research publications produced by naturopathic researchers in the last 30 years are based on studies conducted by researchers in Europe. In 2019, representatives from the World Naturopathic Federation (WNF) European Regional Group met in Lyon, France, to develop a strategy for naturopathy research in Europe. Attendees represented naturopathic organizations in France, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. The outcome was a co-designed strategy based on shared ideas and goals, linked to implementation activities. The goals for the first four years were: (1) Establish research capacity through research training and infrastructure; (2) Strengthen research training and infrastructure; (3) Secure continued research capacity through formalized research training in naturopathic courses; (4) Establish research-sustainability through university-level naturopathic education. While the COVD-19 pandemic has delayed the timeline of initiating this strategy, the priorities, goals, and planned activities remain the same for the WNF European Regional Group. The strategy not only reflects a vision for the future of the profession in Europe, it also reflects an acknowledgement that the European naturopathic community is not only the custodian of the historical roots of the global naturopathic profession but also has an important role to play in its future.
Key Words: Naturopathy, naturopathic medicine, health workforce, capacity-building
Naturopathy is a traditional medicine system originating in Europe, with Germany recognized as the traditional home to naturopathy.1 While naturopathy was first codified in the late 1800s, it draws upon knowledge about health and healing arising from much earlier times.2 Despite its European roots, naturopathy is currently practiced in 108 countries worldwide, and represents the most geographically diverse traditional system of medicine of the modern era.1 The global naturopathic profession consistently identifies core philosophies and principles that underpin clinical care; however, the specific therapeutic tools employed in naturopathic practice are influenced by local cultural, historical, and regulatory factors, resulting in some modalities being considered core to practice in certain locations (e.g., yoga in India, homeopathy in Europe, acupuncture in Canada) yet used less frequently elsewhere.1
In Europe, naturopathy is practiced in more than 30 countries and the naturopathic profession includes over 60,000 (of the global total of 110,000) naturopathic practitioners.1 Despite the history and size of the naturopathic profession in Europe, only 8.8% of the more than 2000 peer-reviewed research publications produced by naturopathic researchers in the last 30 years represent studies conducted by researchers in Europe.3 This disparity may be due, in part, to the regulatory and educational environment of the European naturopathic profession: ten countries have regulatory mechanisms in place for the naturopathic profession and eleven countries offer a total of 36 naturopathic educational programs.1 Of these courses, there are only four known European examples of naturopathic institutions establishing research institutions, or naturopathic practitioners with research qualifications being housed in leading national and international research centres focused on naturopathy. In contrast, there are nine naturopathic programs in North America and seven research centres meeting these criteria.3 This difference may be in part due to the naturopathic educational programs in Europe being delivered by private providers and existing outside of the established university sector. As such, they have limited access to research infrastructure and training, which hinders research capacity-building in Europe.
This gap affects the advancement of Europe’s naturopathic profession, as research training is a critical component of a profession’s ability to communicate findings from practice, examine the evidence underpinning practices, and build evidence-informed practitioners. The North American naturopathic professional community collaborated in 2006 to develop an agenda for advancing naturopathic medical research.4 Their efforts were focused on identifying key research questions that naturopathic research and researchers were well-placed to answer. These important efforts were not, however, aimed at advancing the research capacity of the naturopathic profession in any one world region. This article presents a strategy developed by representatives of the World Naturopathic Federation (WNF) European Regional Group with the aim of building a strong future for naturopathic research in their region.
In 2019, representatives from the WNF European Regional Group met in Lyon, France, to develop a research strategy for naturopathy in Europe. Attendees represented naturopathic organizations in France, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, and the Czech Republic (see Table 1). The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Amie Steel, from the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (University of Technology Sydney, Australia). Over the course of the one-day meeting, Dr. Steel presented a model for understanding research capacity, and the participants explored the naturopathic research environment in Europe. They then co-designed a strategy based on shared ideas and goals. The participants then applied these foundational principles to develop strategic goals and implementation activities. A summary of these final outcomes is provided below.
TABLE 1 Representatives contributing to the WNF European Regional Group Research Strategy Meeting
The professional representatives agreed they needed to set 10-year priorities for the European region. These were:
From these longer-term priorities, the meeting participants agreed on five immediate priorities:
These immediate priorities were then translated into specific goals and activities over four years (see Table 2).
TABLE 2 European Naturopathic Research 4-year strategic plan
In the first year, it will be important to establish research capacity through research training and infrastructure. Key activities to achieve this goal include providing targeted research training skills workshops for faculty and locally identified “Research Champions.” Further to this, infrastructure-building activities are also needed. These include developing guidelines for the professional associations to provide research funding, building patient-reported outcome measures into the academic clinics of naturopathic programs, and exploring collaborative arrangements between organizations and institutions to facilitate journal database access.
The focus in the second year is on strengthening research capacity through funding and external partnerships. This requires establishing a WNF Research Subcommittee for Europe and identifying and connecting with researchers in European universities interested in naturopathy. Building on the Year 1 activities, the WNF European Regional Group will also develop a pooled research fund to support research activities in the region. The existing naturopathic researchers will also collaborate with international naturopathic researchers and non-naturopathic researchers in Europe where appropriate, to apply for funding through an existing grant scheme.
The goal for the third year is to secure continued research capacity through formalized naturopathic research training in naturopathic programs. For this to occur, the regional representatives will develop research subjects to include in undergraduate clinical programs and develop reciprocal training arrangements for research skills among educational institutions delivering naturopathic training in Europe.
The fourth year aims to establish research sustainability through university-level naturopathic education. For this to occur, the WNF European Regional Group professional and educational members will collaborate to establish a naturopathic university with research training embedded in the curriculum.
The WNF European Regional Group Research Strategy Meeting represents a first attempt for representatives of the naturopathic profession in the European Region to identify priorities and goals, underpinned by specific activities, to build regional research capacity and activity. While the COVD-19 pandemic has delayed the timeline of initiating this strategy, the priorities, goals, and planned activities remain the same for the WNF European Regional Group. The strategy not only reflects a vision for the future of the profession in Europe, it also reflects an acknowledgement that not only is the European naturopathic community custodian of the historical roots of the global naturopathic profession, it also has an important role to play in its future.
1Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Australia;
2Organización Colegial Naturopática FENACO, Spain;
3World Naturopathic Federation, Canada.
Thank you to the professional representatives who contributed to the meeting which generated this strategy. Thank you also to Aesculape Ecole Libre de Naturopathie for providing a venue for the meeting, and to the World Naturopathic Federation for contributing catering.
We have read and understood the CAND Journal’s policy on conflicts of interest and declare that we have none.
This research did not receive any funding.
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Correspondence to: Dr Amie Steel, Level 8, Building 10, 235-253 Jones St, Ultimo NSW 2006 Australia. E-mail: amie.steel@uts.edu.au
To cite: Steel A, Caut C, Hausser T. From roots to research: A research strategy for the naturopathic profession in Europe. CAND Journal. 2022;29(4):16-18. https:/doi.org/10.54434/candj.128
Received: 28 September 2022; Accepted: 25 October 2022; Published: 15 December 2022
© 2022 Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors. For permissions, please contact candj@cand.ca.
CAND Journal | Volume 29, No. 4, December 2022