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MTBOK - whats going on right now?

Three weeks into the project and the Task Force is hard at work, and keeping me busy as well! You may recall that the first phase of the MTBOK development is addressing only the foundational elements. The task force is charged with developing a fully vetted (reviewed, commented upon by the stakeholders and updated to include resulting changes) MTBOK which contains the following:

- The Scope of Practice
- A description of the field
- the competencies of an entry level massage therapist expressed in terms of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) they must possess.

The Task Force has divided into two teams to focus on these issues, and are currently gathering data from books, job analysis data, State laws and regulations, educational institutions and allied health fields. Its a tremendously busy time for them - not only are they crashing to do this work, but since this is only a part time effort for them. They must also keep up with their normal work and family needs. If you have read their brief bios (see "Who We Are" at the http://www.mtbok.org website) you will know that they already had a lot on their plate.

Their job is complicated by an aggressive timetable so that there is time for the community to participate in and comment on the MTBOK developing content. Our goal is to have an early draft out fairly quickly to help get the community up-to-date, involved and participating. The Task Force will continue adding to their work during the comment period, and then follow up with analysis and discussion resulting from the comments they receive; then right back to work to prepare a final draft for one more review and final presentation of results in May of next year.

More on the schedule and associated activities later. Right now I want you to know that you will have opportunities to provide constructive comments and input to the process. I hope you will jump on the train to make sure this a body of knowledge built by and for the profession. We want you to be included in the process.

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Comment by Chip Hines on July 26, 2009 at 12:36pm: Howard:

Having had a career in the bureaucracy, I can assure you that this isnt one, "burgeoning" or not. We have an independent task force, composed of 8 well qualified individuals (see "Who We Are" at http://www.mtbok.org) who were selected by representatives of 6 of the major organizations (our Stewards) in the industry. This inherently gives some "checks and balances" to the projects. These Stewards do not have approval authority over the end product, although they have agreed to maintain responsibility for the product. The Task Force members are also volunteers, and serve only a one year term. The mechanism for the continuance of the project hasnt been determined yet, but I suspect that volunteerism will continue to be a major effort.

If you've kept an eye on this blog, you may have noted that research is a hot item. One of the issues that we have today is a concern that massage therapy as a profession doesn't have a clear tie to foundational science and research. Part of the project will be to better define those connections via the development of a proposed body of knowledge for the profession. The initial effort is on "foundational" elements which includes the Knowledge that an entry level massage therapist needs to have to be able to do their job.

Although it is probably true that the Task Force will act as gatekeepers, for this phase 1 effort we are focusing on the entry level massage therapist requirements, and we haven't worked out a specific process that we would use to determine if specific research leading to new knowledge requirements can lead to changes in the MTBOK. There is a lot on our plate, and my guess is that we may not get that far in the phase 1 effort. That being said, the whole philosophy we are operating in is rooted in creating a "living document" which will in fact be changed as a result of new research, as well as the incorporation of existing information about needs beyond the entry level for a massage therapist.

Im not familiar with your research, so I cant comment on any issues that you have faced, but I can say that the Task Force is made up of people with a range of backgrounds - and some have a lot of experience in research. I have seen discussions of cutting edge research leading to evolving science, so I can tell you the group isnt stuck in the past.

The challenge of the ongoing MTBOK effort is the same that any such effort has - deciding what in the continuum of ideas constitutes knowledge for the profession and what doesn't. To enhance the credibility of massage therapy with the public and the health care professions, I think we will need to be sure of the basis for including new knowledge in the MTBOK.

Comment by Carl W. Brown on July 26, 2009 at 10:37am: Chip, if the MTBOK is to have any credibility I think is needs to firstly identify competencies that are essential to protect the public. This should be based on actual documented incidences of harm that could have been avoided by proper training.
Secondly the BOK should be clear as to what massage is (I presume that it means Swedish and Swedish based modalities) and that it does not apply to other forms of bodywork most of which have little in common with Swedish and deep tissue. Thirdly it has to be tied to competencies that people actually use. Most MTs learn A & P but soon forget most of ti because unless that write medical notes that forget muscle names. Most if them also do not do detailed anatomical work that needs to distinguish between individual muscles. Fourthly most MTs will encounter phenomena that cannot be explained by science. This felid cannot be limited to treating people as a set of measures. In essence it is more like psychology than medicine and as such MTs need to be able to deal with soft facts. Too often then develop or adopt concepts that either are pseudo science like the lactic acid rumor or pure fanciful constructs. To maintain the credibility of the profession we need to teach evidence based thinking that encompasses a holistic scope. They need to be able to combine in a critical manner thins that are scientific and intuitive to provide the best for the specific client. They have to be able to use both haves of their brains. They have to learn to think in terms of what produces the best results based on objective evidence.