Porcino Antony, Macdougall Colleen
CAMEO Project, BC Cancer Agency and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada;
Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2009 Sep 23;2(3):18-30. doi: 10.3822/ijtmb.v2i3.40.
Since the late 1980s, several taxonomies have been developed to help map and describe the interrelationships of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities. In these taxonomies, several issues are often incompletely addressed: A simple categorization process that clearly isolates a modality to a single conceptual categoryClear delineation of verticality-that is, a differentiation of scale being observed from individually applied techniques, through modalities (therapies), to whole medical systemsRecognition of CAM as part of the general field of health care
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED TAXONOMY OF HEALTH CARE (ITHC) INVOLVED THREE STAGES: Development of a precise, uniform health glossaryAnalysis of the extant taxonomiesUse of an iterative process of classifying modalities and medical systems into categories until a failure to singularly classify a modality occurred, requiring a return to the glossary and adjustment of the classifying protocol
A full vertical taxonomy was developed that includes and clearly differentiates between techniques, modalities, domains (clusters of similar modalities), systems of health care (coordinated care system involving multiple modalities), and integrative health care. Domains are the classical primary focus of taxonomies. The ITHC has eleven domains: chemical/substance-based work, device-based work, soft tissue-focused manipulation, skeletal manipulation, fitness/movement instruction, mind-body integration/classical somatics work, mental/emotional-based work, bio-energy work based on physical manipulation, bio-energy modulation, spiritual-based work, unique assessments. Modalities are assigned to the domains based on the primary mode of interaction with the client, according the literature of the practitioners.
THE ITHC HAS SEVERAL STRENGTHS: little interpretation is used while successfully assigning modalities to single domains; the issue of taxonomic verticality is fully resolved; and the design fully integrates the complementary health care fields of biomedicine and CAM.
自20世纪80年代末以来，已开发出几种分类法，以帮助梳理和描述补充与替代医学（CAM）模式的相互关系。在这些分类法中，几个问题常常未得到充分解决：一个简单的分类过程，能将一种模式清晰地归入单一概念类别；对纵向性的明确界定，即从个体应用技术、模式（疗法）到整个医疗系统，对所观察到的规模差异进行区分；将补充与替代医学视为医疗保健总领域的一部分。
综合医疗保健分类法（ITHC）的开发涉及三个阶段：制定精确、统一的健康术语表；分析现有分类法；采用迭代过程将模式和医疗系统分类到各个类别，直到无法将一种模式单一分类，此时需要返回术语表并调整分类方案。
开发出一个完整的纵向分类法，包括并清晰区分技术、模式、领域（相似模式的集群）、医疗保健系统（涉及多种模式的协调护理系统）和综合医疗保健。领域是分类法的经典主要关注点。ITHC有11个领域：基于化学/物质的工作、基于设备的工作、以软组织为重点的手法治疗、骨骼手法治疗、健身/运动指导、身心整合/经典躯体疗法工作、基于心理/情感的工作、基于物理操作的生物能量工作、生物能量调节、基于精神的工作、独特评估。根据从业者的文献，模式基于与客户的主要互动模式被分配到各个领域。
ITHC有几个优点：在成功将模式分配到单一领域时几乎无需解释；分类纵向性问题得到充分解决；设计充分整合了生物医学和补充与替代医学的补充医疗保健领域。
