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Why EBP and not just research literacy?

Evidence based practise implies an action as research literacy implies an ability not action.
EBP is were the real world of clinical practise and its reality meet research and the ivory tower.
It is my opinion that if the MT profession is to advance research use, with in its ranks, we need to utilize the tools available to us. EBP tools are just what the "Dr" ordered.
EBP focuses not just on the evidence for the therapeutic interventions, it provides us with tools that addresses every aspect of our practise.
After reading the Sicily EBP statement what are your thoughts?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Whitney Lowe on July 21, 2009 at 12:56pm

Thanks so much for sharing the Sicily statement. I think this article had a great deal of helpful information in it. Another thought comes to mind after reading this article related to EBP and research literacy...

At the present time we are at a stage in our profession where there is very little emphasis on developing critical thinking skills in our educational programs. In addition, there is not a well-developed understanding of the research process by many practitioners, since they were never exposed to this material in school. They may come across an article that states “…research suggests x, y, or z…” and it turns out that what the article’s author is calling research is an item quoted from a book that is just the book author’s opinion. There is no substantial evidence to back up the concept (which may actually be factually incorrect). I have seen this happen numerous times. As a result, some clinical practice myth becomes a standard part of practice for a long period of time. Once it becomes more ingrained in the system, it can take years for it to become reversed as evidence mounts refuting the claim. It is much better to acquire the evidence to support these claims in the very beginning.

So, practitioners must develop research literacy so they can understand how to critically read, appraise, and evaluate the literature. As a result of that process we can use that evidence to make informed decisions in our practice. This is the action process of EBP that Bodhi speaks of. Also, we should keep in mind that a research article does not specifically have to be about massage or have massage in the title to be relevant. There is an abundance of evidence-based practice literature out there from other fields that is directly applicable to what we are doing in massage.

Permalink Reply by Jason Erickson on August 16, 2010 at 10:45pm

Great points, Whitney!

I think massage schools should include mandatory courses in critical thinking, the scientific method, and research literacy (including basic statistical analysis). Unfortunately, many of our colleagues seem to think that anecdotal evidence is enough, that science is "evil", and that we should be magical "healers" because of "good intent" and whatnot.

Until such training becomes available in massage schools, it will be up to individual practitioners to inform themselves and/or seek out additional training (such as your CE courses).