Munk Niki, Stewart Katie, Love Margaret M, Carter Eddie, Elder William G
Department of Health Sciences, Indiana University - IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Department of Family and Community Medicine Community Based Faculty, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2014 Jun 4;7(2):10-9. doi: 10.3822/ijtmb.v7i2.236. eCollection 2014 Jun.
Few NIH funded studies give community massage therapists the opportunity to become study personnel. A recent NIH/NCCAM-funded study investigating chronic low back pain (CLBP) recruited, trained, and utilized community massage practitioners (CMPs) as study personnel. This study's aim was to determine whether health-related outcomes for CLBP improve when patients are referred from primary care to select CAM modalities including massage therapy (MT). The purpose of this paper is to report the results of the study's three massage practice-driven study objectives which were to: 1) identify challenges and solutions to recruiting and retaining ample CMPs, 2) develop a practice-informed protocol reflecting real-world MT, and 3) determine the extent to which CMPs comply with rigorous research methodology in their clinical practices as study personnel.
Eligible CMPs in urban and rural Kentucky counties were identified through licensure board records, professional organizations, and personal contact opportunities. Interested CMPs completed 6 CE hours of research and Human Subjects Protection training and agreed to comply with a study protocol reflecting MT as practiced. Once trained, study CMPs were matched with study participants to provide and document up to 10 MT sessions per participant.
Utilizing prominent MT community members proved invaluable to CMP recruitment and protocol development. CMP recruitment challenges included mixed interest, low number of available rural CMPs, busy clinic schedules, and compensation. Ethics CE credits were offered to encourage CMP interest. A total of 28 Kentucky licensed massage therapists with 5-32 years of experience completed study training. A total of 127 CLBP patients consented to participate (n = 104 for MT). Twenty-five CMPs were assigned CLBP patients and provided 1-10 treatments for 94 study participants. Treatment documentation was provided by CMPs for 97% of treatments provided.
When recruitment, retention, and protocol compliance challenges are met, CMPs are valuable study personnel for practice-based research reflecting real-world MT practice.
由美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）资助的研究中，很少有机会让社区按摩治疗师成为研究人员。最近一项由NIH/补充与替代医学国家中心（NCCAM）资助的关于慢性下腰痛（CLBP）的研究招募、培训并将社区按摩从业者（CMP）作为研究人员加以利用。本研究的目的是确定当患者从初级保健机构被转介至包括按摩疗法（MT）在内的特定补充与替代医学模式时，CLBP患者与健康相关的结局是否会得到改善。本文旨在报告该研究基于按摩实践的三个研究目标的结果，这些目标是：1）确定招募和留住足够数量的CMP的挑战及解决方案；2）制定一个反映现实世界中MT的基于实践的方案；3）确定CMP作为研究人员在其临床实践中遵守严格研究方法的程度。
通过执照颁发委员会记录、专业组织和个人联系机会，确定肯塔基州城乡各县符合条件的CMP。感兴趣的CMP完成了6个继续教育学分的研究和人类受试者保护培训，并同意遵守一项反映实际应用的MT的研究方案。一旦完成培训，研究CMP与研究参与者进行匹配，为每位参与者提供并记录最多10次MT治疗。
利用MT领域的知名社区成员对CMP的招募和方案制定被证明具有极高价值。CMP的招募挑战包括兴趣不一、农村地区可用的CMP数量少、诊所日程繁忙以及报酬问题。提供伦理继续教育学分以激发CMP的兴趣。共有28名具有5至32年经验的肯塔基州持证按摩治疗师完成了研究培训。共有127名CLBP患者同意参与（接受MT治疗的n = 104）。25名CMP被分配CLBP患者，并为94名研究参与者提供了1至10次治疗。CMP为97%的所提供治疗提供了治疗记录。
当招募、留存和方案合规方面的挑战得到解决时，CMP是基于实践的研究中反映现实世界MT实践的宝贵研究人员。
