Advancing massage therapy research competencies: Dimensions for thought and action

Abstract

Two major developments in the therapeutic massage and bodywork profession have recently brought to the forefront, in a most comprehensive fashion, the issue of research competencies. Specifically, the efforts of the American ]Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Foundation's Massage Research Agenda Workgroup and the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation's (COMTA) expansion of competency-based standards to include a research component have both called the profession to a potentially heightened level of credibility. Accompanying such an opportunity for the massage/bodywork profession's development, though, are challenges still to be successfully deliberated and acted upon. One such challenge is that of coordinating the various curricular, instructional, organizational, and resource areas essential to advancing massage therapy research competencies. Accordingly, this paper suggests a multi-dimensional framework intended to initiate critical discussions of how the profession might now proceed. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.