Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72312
NEXT ISSUE: THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE STRUCTURE OF A RESEARCH ARTICLE; THINKING STATISTICALLY; RESEARCH OVERVIEW—MASSAGE AND CANCER. is an extremely low probability that these outcomes are the results of chance, rather than being a result of the acupressure treatment. I know, right now it looks like a long way to get from the first version to the second. But trust me, after we've practiced the skill of research literacy for a while, this will come naturally to you. We'll continue to build this skill, and like everything else, it will be easier with practice. DEVELOPING RESEARCH CAPACITY Just as with any other skill, we start with the basics, and then build on that foundation to progress to carrying out more advanced tasks. With that in mind, since research capacity depends so much on the skills of research literacy, we will first concentrate on building research literacy, to lay that strong foundation, but we won't totally shy away from developing skills in research capacity, even at the outset. Think about how we learn language. Speaking a language is an active skill, since it requires generating meaningful speech, while reading is somewhat more of a passive skill, since recognizing meaning is easier than generating it, yet we certainly don't insist that children learn to read before they speak. The way we naturally learn our native language is through a mixture of speaking and, later, reading. In an analogous way, we will focus on laying a solid foundation of research literacy that we can continue to build on and apply. One research capacity skill that can be developed initially is adding to our knowledge of massage by contributing our own narratives. There are many ways to write about our experiences, from creative writing to poetry to nonfiction and more. One rather specialized form that is often found in medical journals is the case report, often a detailed description of a clinical encounter with a client or patient, a treatment for a particular condition, and an outcome of that treatment. In upcoming columns, we'll step through the structured exercise of writing in the style of published case reports. Perhaps while we get to that, you can think about what cases you've seen in practice that might make a good narrative to relate for sharing your experience. For example, at dinner not too long ago, I met a massage practitioner who works with two patients, both of who are in a comatose state from brain damage after severe head injuries. She seemed pleased that I was interested in hearing about her work. However, when I asked her if she had thought about writing about it, she admitted that she never had—in fact, she seemed to shy away from the very idea. I pointed out to her that surely she was not the only massage practitioner who had ever been asked to work with brain-injured comatose patients, and yet, if you carry out a PubMed database search to find any existing research literature on the subject, you yield no results. So this massage therapist has experience that is potentially very valuable to someone out there just starting to practice, but doesn't quite know what to do. The way this knowledge gets shared is through publication, such as case reports. It's how we see what else is going on out there in the world, what kinds of conditions others are seeing in practice, and what they're doing to treat them. And we give back by sharing our knowledge, as well. Talking about writing up case reports may sound like a big step right now. But like any new skill, we'll build it up with practice over time. One of the facets of the research process I love most is the shared connection with others across space and time. Taking an active part in exploring the natural world around us, and committing to the scientific method as a way of carrying out that exploration, gives us an intellectual connection to many people on the same journey now, as well as to those who went before us. In a similar way, this column will be what we make it together, out of our shared interest in discovering what research means to the field of massage and the people involved in it. I am excited about co-creating this process with you and look forward very much to our dialogue. practitioner and biomedical informatician in Seattle, Washington. She has practiced massage at the former Refugee Clinic at Harborview Medical Center and in private practice. In addition to teaching research methods in massage since 1996, she is the author of an upcoming book on research literacy in massage (working title: Massage Journal Club: A Guide to Reading the Research Literature). Contact her at researching.massage@gmail. com with questions and comments. Ravensara S. Travillian is a massage massagetherapy.com—for you and your clients 147