Can evidence-based practice revolutionise the profession of naturopathy

During the last 40 years, the world has witnessed a significant change in the practice and delivery of health-care (Leach and Tucker, 2017). According to Leach and Tucker (2017), these changes are the result of advances in technology, and the exploration of new frontiers in the field of Health Science, thus expanding our understanding of the aetiology and mechanism of disease, along with the burgeoning complexity of patient illness. In addition to these contributing factors, however, the ‘movement’ that is now referred to as ‘evidence-based practice’ features as having a causative role in the changes observed. Moreover, there also exists a growing body of research on this topic which claims to demonstrate that if ‘only the best available evidence’ were to be applied to clinical practice, significant improvements in the quality of naturopathic health practice, its service delivery, and its safety would be conspicuously enhanced (Boaz, Baeza and Fraser, 2011; Dickersin, Straus and Bero, 2007; Leach, 2006). The purpose of our paper is to determine the extent to which the epistemological framework within which these presumptions are embedded prove to be adequately articulated.