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Understanding North American yoga therapists' attitudes, skills and use of evidence-based practice: A cross-national survey
Complementary therapies in medicine
Short Title: Complement.Ther.Med.
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: Nov 30, 2016
Pages: 11 - 18
Sources ID: 29606
Notes: LR: 20170627; CI: Copyright (c) 2017; JID: 9308777; OTO: NOTNLM; 2017/02/03 00:00 [received]; 2017/03/13 00:00 [revised]; 2017/03/13 00:00 [accepted]; 2017/06/17 06:00 [entrez]; 2017/06/18 06:00 [pubmed]; 2017/06/28 06:00 [medline]; ppublish
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
INTRODUCTION: Little is known about the adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) by yoga therapists (YTs). OBJECTIVE: To determine the attitudes, skills, training, use, barriers and facilitators to the use of EBP amongst North American YTs DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive survey METHODS: Self-identified YTs practicing in North America were invited to participate in an online survey. YT attitudes, skills, training, utilisation, barriers to use, and facilitators of EBP use were measured using the 84-item Evidence-Based practice Attitude and utilization SurvEy (EBASE). RESULTS: 367 members responded ( approximately 20% of eligible participants). Attitudes towards EBP were generally positive with 88% agreeing that professional literature and research findings were useful for the practice of yoga therapy. Most (80%) were interested in improving their skills and the majority agreed that EBP improves the quality of care (68%), assists in making decisions (74%) and takes into account the YTs clinical experience when making clinical decisions (59%). Moderate to moderately-high levels of perceived skill in EBP were reported mostly utilizing online search engines (51%). Lack of clinical evidence was the only notable barrier to uptake reported by YTs (48%). Facilitators to EBP included access to online EBP education materials (70.6%), ability to download full-text journal articles and access to free online databases in the workplace (67.3%). CONCLUSION: North American YTs report positive attitudes, moderate to moderately-high levels of perceived skill and moderate uptake of EBP. This aligns them with other complementary and integrative health practitioners. Initiatives to support the adoption of EBP are proposed as a means of improving best practice in yoga therapy.