My research attempts to address the contemporary challenges faced by complementary medicines.

Despite the growing international popularity and use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the uptake of evidence-based practice (EBP) in CAM has been slow. This cross-sectional survey aimed to further our understanding of the factors impacting EBP uptake in CAM.

The 32-item oBSTACLES instrument was administered online using the SurveyMonkey™platform. The survey evaluated barriers to both the conduct and application of research among CAM practitioners and researchers, from multiple CAM disciplines across Australia and New Zealand. Six hundred and eighty-two CAM stakeholders responded to the survey. 

Findings suggest a multitude of barriers negatively impact the conduct and application of research in CAM.

My research conveys the opinions of two important cohorts in Complementary Medicine (CM) across the Trans-Tasman - researchers and practitioners. It will inform CM stakeholders about the barriers to the conduct and application of research faced by CM researchers and practitioners in their practices. Insights gained from this research will be instrumental in developing actionable strategies aimed at mitigating the impact of these barriers to improve research engagement in CAM.

Key Learning Objectives:

1. An understanding of the barriers that impact the conduct and application of research in CM.

2. A multitude of barriers impact the conduct and application of research in CM.

3. Barriers faced are intrinsic and extrinsic.

Bio:

Yasamin is an early career researcher, at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, the Aboriginal Health Equity unit. Yasamin is interested in improving the evidence-base of complementary medicine (CM) due to the lack of a substantial body of research in this field. As a registered nurse and a naturopath, Yasamin understands the importance of clinical evidence in practice. Yasamin believes that an improved public health mandate to monitor and promote more research in CM is needed. CM has the potential to reform primary healthcare, establish holistic-health, and a social-service system to emphasise health promotion and prevention. Therefore, Yasamin dedicated 6 years from her Honours to her PhD researching the barriers and enablers to the conduct and application of research in CM. Yasamin’s seminal systematic review on this topic is well cited and read. Yasamin continues to publish and collaborate in the area of CM. In her research, Yasamin has brought together local and international CM experts in a nominal group technique and an international Delphi study to get expert consensus to develop a first-ever survey tool to measure the barriers to the conduct and application of research in CM (oBSTACLES). This survey tool was used in her PhD research where she sought the opinion of CM researchers and practitioners across Australia and New Zealand on the barriers they face to conduct and apply research in practice.