Putting embodied knowledge into practice: a follow up study of graduates from complementary medicine training courses.

Narrative interviews were conducted will all participants, covering reasons that they wanted to train as an osteopath or homeopath, their expectations of a career, their experience of undertaking training, their experience of the transition to practice after graduating and their experiences since then of building a career. Three participants were no longer practising, seven had made a partial transition to practice and four were fully established practitioners.
<p>Sociological studies of health and illness have traditionally focused on the practice of and interaction with medical practitioners, to the neglect of understanding individuals' own ways of dealing with health problems within their family or community. One in ten people every year and one in three in their lifetime use, and usually pay out of pocket, for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the UK. Research into CAM is growing, especially studies that look at why patients use it and the effectiveness of individual treatments. However, we know surprisingly little about the practitioners of these types of therapy. It is important to understand more about the knowledge and skills that underpin this kind of healthcare, and how practitioners attempt to ensure the safety and quality of their practice, especially because most complementary therapists work independently rather than having established career structures like doctors, nurses or midwives. The researcher will recruit graduates from CAM training courses to explore their careers and professional development. The study will involve interviewing practitioners about their experience, and observing them in their daily working lives to enable real events to spark off detailed discussions about how they deal with the realities of daily practice.</p>

面向所有参与者开展了叙事性访谈（narrative interviews），内容涵盖其选择接受整骨疗法师（osteopath）与顺势疗法师（homeopath）培训的动因、职业期许、培训经历、毕业后向执业转型的体验，以及此后构建职业历程的相关体验。本次研究的参与者中，3名已不再执业，7名已部分完成执业转型，4名已成为成熟的执业从业者。
传统上，健康与疾病的社会学研究多聚焦于医疗从业者的执业活动及其与服务对象的互动，却忽视了个体在家庭或社区中应对健康问题的自有方式。在英国，每年有十分之一的人群、一生中累计有三分之一的人群会使用补充与替代疗法（complementary and alternative medicine, CAM），且通常需自费支付相关费用。当前补充与替代疗法的相关研究正不断增多，尤其是围绕患者使用该疗法的动因与单项疗法有效性的研究。然而，我们对这类疗法的执业者却知之甚少。进一步明晰支撑这类医疗服务的知识与技能，以及执业者如何保障其执业的安全性与质量，具有重要意义——尤其是考虑到多数补充疗法执业者均为独立执业，并未像医生、护士或助产士那样拥有成熟的职业体系。本研究将招募补充与替代疗法培训课程的毕业生，以探究其职业历程与专业发展路径。研究内容包括对执业者进行访谈以了解其从业经历，同时观察其日常工作状态，借助真实工作场景触发关于如何应对日常执业实际难题的深度讨论。