BTFA announces partnership with Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine

The BTFA is pleased to announce an exciting partnership with the Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM) at the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney, NSW.  

The BTFA Board has recently approved the industry partnership with ARCCIM in order to offer interested BTFA members access to their highly successful research capacity building program.

ARCCIM has proven research leadership and capacity development programs, and the partnership will enable the BTFA to realise its objectives in relation to growing the scientific evidence base for Bowen Therapy. The partnership is also significant because it provides opportunities for any BTFA member to contribute to the development of this evidence base and to a scientifically robust research culture within our profession.

ARCCIM is positioned within the Faculty of Health, Discipline of Public Health at UTS. It is the leading research-intensive centre in the critical examination of complementary medicine and health care in Australia.

The primary aim of ARCCIM is to produce, disseminate and implement research findings and interventions around complementary and integrative medicine (CIM), that helps inform best world practice and policy for stakeholders involved in all levels of health service delivery.

As a way of achieving its primary aim, a key objective of ARCCIM is to develop research leadership and capacity within the complementary and integrative medicine workforce, i.e. amongst practitioners.

The BTFA will be joining current ARCCIM research project partnerships with industry CIM partners that include:

The ARCCIM research capacity building programs cover three main areas of activity:

  1. Research leadership development

  2. The Practitioner Research and Collaboration Initiative (PRACI)

  3. Research skill capacity building seminars and workshops

The Director of ARCCIM, Professor Jon Adams* has expressed the following: I look forward to working with… the BTFA on these initiatives… Thank you [to] the BTFA again for providing this opportunity – everyone at ARCCIM is excited about this work”.

In an exciting parallel activity, Professor Adams has also been speaking directly with representatives from the BAA and Bowen Therapy in the UK and New Zealand, to explore their interest in also engaging in similar partnership arrangements to the BTFA.

More information about the BTFA program activity areas, key dates and how practitioners can register interest in being involved will be provided as soon as it is available.

* Note: Professor Adams will be a guest speaker at the 2019 BTFA Conference in Melbourne from November 8th-10th, where he will be speaking about ARCCIM’s important research work into complimentary and integrative medicine. This promises to be a terrific opportunity to hear an inspiring presentation and meet with Professor Adams. We hope you will join us! Please visit https://bowen.asn.au/events/for more information and to register.

Research resources

In the leadup to the 2019 BTFA Conference, we have put together some research resources. These will hopefully assist with understanding the basics of research quality, and in recognising and understanding some common research terms (the research vocabulary) and research designs (types of research).

Research design types
The research and research design types is about some common types of research.

Research pyramid
The research pyramid doc is about how research quality is assessed.

Glossary of research terms
The glossary of research terms doc is about the language of research.