Abstracts

Naturopathic medicine is a “whole systems” form of medicine that emphasizes prevention and individualized treatment of disease with lifestyle changes and natural therapies. This international and multisite naturalistic pilot study aims to evaluate how 12 weeks of individualized naturopathic care affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients at 2 naturopathic teaching institutions by measuring Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Global Health Scale (GHS) scores. Secondly, this research aims to collect demographic data from 2 naturopathic institutions in the United States and Canada to explore the types of patients seeking naturopathic care in North America. We found that the 2 institutions, Boucher Institute and University of Bridgeport, treat very different populations, yet the main reason for seeking medical treatment remains similar. We also found statistically significant improvements in Global Physical Health (GPH) scores at both institutions (P=0.032) and at Boucher Institute alone (P=0.021) over the 12-week study period.

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