Integrative Medicine - Holistic Conceptual Model, Scientific and Educational Approaches // Интегративна медицина - холистичен концептуален модел, научни и образователни подходи
The focus of the research is the concept of integrative medicine (IM) as a medical and social construct. IM emerged as an idea to integrate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in health care, but today it is much more than that, so the dissertation aims to study the concept of "IM" and its place in science and education in Bulgaria. The defined tasks have been reached: 1. Historical and institutional development of IM (2019-2022) is presented; 2. A short handbook with key terms and their definitions in the field of IM has been developed; 3. A holistic conceptual model of IM has been created; 4. A needs assessment of education in the field of IM and CAM has been made through: - Study of awareness, attitudes, behaviour and interests of student and professional communities regarding CAM, health promotion and IM (2021-2022, KAP study); - Dynamic Delphi study with an educational focus among experts in the field of higher medical education and healthcare (2022); 5. A conceptual educational model has been developed to achieve a profile of key (general) and functional (professional) competencies related to IM. As a result of the study, the definition proposed at the beginning has been expanded and enriched. It is accepted that IM considers the individual as a whole in his physical, psychological, spiritual, social and environmental context: "IM is a modern field of medicine. IM aims to improve physical, mental, emotional and social health through the balanced and individual (person-centred) application of existing, evidence-based treatment methods (conventional and CAM) and all possible approaches to health promotion. IM considers the cells, organs and systems in the human body in their unity (integrity) and functional interaction". The term integrative healthcare is increasingly used instead of IM because reducing health to purely medical clinical approaches precludes holism. An integrative exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was applied, including four chronologically consecutive phases. The study was conducted in the context of missing similar studies in Bulgaria.
integrative medicine, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), holism, Социална медицина и организация на здравеопазването / Social Medicine and Organization of Healthcare
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