Doctor of Philosophy
Conventionally trained as a general and maternity nurse, and faced with managing a long-term disabling condition in a fragmented health system, I have been an advocate for the integration of naturopathic medicine for more than four decades.
A qualified naturopath and medical herbalist my career has been broad and encompassed clinical practice, community education, commercial product development and marketing, undergradate degree faculty, programme development and management, academic leadership, national qualification advisory and governance groups for standards development, professional representation and research.
My PhD research is in collaboration with the World Naturopathic Federation.
I am examining regulation and education policy, frameworks and infrastructure that impact development of the naturopathic profession globally.
RESEARCH THESIS
Mapping the naturopathic landscape: An examination of regulation and education policy, frameworks and infrastructure on professionalisation of naturopathy
All health professions are shaped by regulation and education, formal and informal policy, frameworks and infrastructure which have the potential to advance or limit development of the workforce and variation of practice. Well-developed health professions have identified, codified and applied policy, frameworks and infrastructure in the context of the professions and their work.
The World Health Organization has identified health to be the most important social goal and the 1978 Declaration of Alma Ata placed primary health care central to this attainment. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are viewed as the roadmap and the Astana Declaration rediverted focus in primary care away from solely treatment of disease to prevention and inclusion of scientific and traditional knowledge in order to meet these goals.
Despite the high presence and utilisation of naturopathy in many countries and the potental for naturopathy to advance the SDGs; and calls by the World Health Organization to member-states for accreditation of education and regulation of practitioners and products, there is limited understanding of global regulatory and education frameworks in operation for naturopathy.
This research employs a sequential, hybrid explanatory mixed-methods design with an embedded study to examine the relationship between naturopathic education and regulation. Firstly, key global stakeholders - leaders of professional associations, educational institutions and regulators of naturopathy from 228 organisations were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey. Sixty-five organisations from 29 countries participated. Secondly, an embedded descriptive policy analysis examines types of naturopathic regulation relative to selective survey results. Thirdly, analysis of documents provided by 41 organisations from 15 countries examines naturopathy relative to attributes of profession, education frameworks and infrastructure and challenges and barriers potentially impacting professional development of the naturopathic workforce.
Supervision team
- Associate Professor Dr Jon Wardle
- Associate Professor Dr Amie Steel
- Distinguished Professor Dr Jon Adams
Publications
- Dunn, J., Lloyd, I., Steel, A., Adams, J., & Wardle, J. (2023). Naturopathic Workforce: A Global Resource Toward the Declaration of Astana Goals—A Multimethods Study. Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 29(6-7), 386-394. 10.1089/jicm.2022.0665
- Dunn, J. M., Steel, A. E., Adams, J., Lloyd, I., De Groot, N., Hausser, T., & Wardle, J. (2021). Characteristics of global naturopathic education, regulation, and practice frameworks: results from an international survey. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 21(1), 67-67. 10.1186/s12906-021-03217-1
- Lloyd, I., Dunn, J., & Wardle, J. (2021). Regulation of the naturopathic workforce. In I. Lloyd, A. Steel, & J. Wardle (Eds.), Naturopathy, Practice, Effectiveness, Economics & Safety (pp. 28-57). World Naturopathic Federation.