Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Explore (NY). 2012 Jul-Aug;8(4):231-6. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2012.04.005.
The Integrative Medicine (I-MED) Index, designed to be a universal instrument to assess the 5 levels of healing (physical, energetic, emotional, subconscious, spiritual) among individuals who use complementary therapies, is based on the hypothesis of healing (HH), which considers healing as a dynamic process towards wholeness generally following the same steps. When we pilot-tested the instrument, it became clear that the way participants experience healing in their lives was not as the HH suggested. This led us to ask how patients experience healing and what outcomes they identify as key to their journey.
In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 35 individuals with previous healing experiences at 2 wellness centers in Vancouver, BC. Qualitative content analysis and thematic coding were used to analyze the data.
Four themes emerged from participants' stories; they suggested that healing is (1) a personal and subjective experience, (2) a return to wholeness, (3) self-directed and requiring positive intention and (4) experienced in varying degrees. Symptom resolution, goal attainment, changes in social support, mental outlook, and the subtle but significant changes like engaging in life differently were important healing outcomes. Contrary to the assumptions of the HH, healing is an individualized process that does not follow a uniform pattern.
A lack of consensus on the key concepts of healing has hindered efforts to evaluate the effects of complementary therapies and outcome. The results from this study provide the basis for an instrument to assess individuals' healing experiences in a more dynamic manner.
综合医学（I-MED）指数旨在成为一种通用工具，用于评估使用补充疗法的个体的 5 个治愈水平（身体、能量、情感、潜意识、精神），它基于治愈假设（HH），该假设认为治愈是一个整体的动态过程，通常遵循相同的步骤。当我们对该工具进行试点测试时，很明显，参与者在生活中体验治愈的方式与 HH 所建议的方式不同。这导致我们提出这样一个问题：患者如何体验治愈以及他们认为哪些结果是他们康复之旅的关键。
在不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华的 2 个健康中心，对 35 名有过治愈经验的个人进行了深入的半结构化访谈。使用定性内容分析和主题编码对数据进行分析。
参与者的故事中出现了 4 个主题；它们表明，治愈是（1）一种个人化和主观的体验，（2）一种回归整体的体验，（3）自我导向的，需要积极的意图，（4）以不同程度体验的。症状缓解、目标实现、社会支持的变化、心理状态以及细微但显著的变化，如以不同的方式参与生活，都是重要的治愈结果。与 HH 的假设相反，治愈是一个个体化的过程，并不遵循统一的模式。
对治愈关键概念缺乏共识阻碍了评估补充疗法和结果的效果的努力。这项研究的结果为评估个体治愈体验提供了更具动态性的工具的基础。
