Dear ICTHP friends and colleagues,

Please note that our ICTHP Abstracts Submission Deadline is, March 31^st, 2023, at 11:59 PST.

The 2023 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo: “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Overcoming Social and Ethical Challenges,” will take place from November 12^th to 15^th, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Topics related to this year’s theme: “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Overcoming Social and Ethical Challenges,” will receive a high priority. Of great interest is how Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice address the WHO’s 2018 Declaration of Astana, which calls for sustainable primary health care, that is preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative services, and palliative care.  https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-HIS-SDS-2018.61.

The work must be specifically related to Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice (ICTHP),  e.g., acupuncture, Ayurveda, holistic nursing, massage therapy, spiritual healing, yoga, tai-chi, etc.... Types of research may include: pragmatic or implementation trials, effectiveness studies, policy analyses, analyses of observational studies, demonstration projects, public health or educational program development, and systematic reviews.

When submitting an abstract, please assign it to one of the following topics:

• Education and Health Policy within Icthp
  
• Establishing the Efficacy of Whole Health through the Lens of Icthp
  
• Global Implementation and Dissemination of Icthp As Primary Health Care
  
• Health and Wellness across the Lifespan through Icthp
  
• Icthp Approaches to Hard-to-Treat Complex Chronic Conditions
  
• Innovations in Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice
  
• Social and Ethical Challenges in Icthp (including through virtual delivery)
  
• Synthesis and Dissemination of the Evidence of Integrative Health Practice
  
• Theories and Methodologies for the Evaluation of Traditional Medical Systems
  

• Oral: Social and Ethical Challenges in ICTHP (including through virtual delivery)
• Oral: Global Implementation and Dissemination of ICTHP as Primary Health Care
• Oral: ICTHP Approaches to Hard-to-Treat Complex Chronic Conditions
• Oral: Establishing the Efficacy of Whole Health through the lens of ICTHP
• Oral: Innovations in Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice
• Roundtable: Health and Wellness across the Lifespan through ICTHP
• Poster: Education and Health Policy within ICTHP
• Poster: Theories and Methodologies for the Evaluation of Traditional Medical Systems
• Poster: Synthesis and Dissemination of the Evidence of Integrative Health Practice

Preference will be given to abstracts that feature originality, use of innovative approaches, potential impact on the field, clarity of presentation, reliance on high-quality scientific data, and potential level of interest to APHA 2023 ICTHP Section meeting attendees.

Attention public health students! The ICTHP Section advocates for rising professionals in our field and seeks submissions from students and junior scholars for both oral and poster presentations. Student presenters will be invited to apply for a student travel grant to off-set the costs of attending the 2023 meeting. Best poster awards will be announced and presented at the annual meeting during the ICTHP Section Award Reception. All poster authors are encouraged to attend.

We invite relevant abstracts from our membership and interested others.  Please submit a structured abstract with background, methods, results, and discussion/conclusion. 

• Background: Why did you do it? Why is this important to public health?
• Methods: How did you do it?  What kind of study/investigation did you do and how did you go about it? (e.g., was it randomized trial, observational study, feasibility study, qualitative study, quality improvement study, or program evaluation). How did you analyze your results?
• Results: Describe the sample, key findings (with numbers as appropriate, such as an odds ratio with 95% confidence interval or mean difference with confidence interval or feasibility percentages OR with qualitative themes), and any other findings you wish to highlight.
• Discussion (and/or Conclusion): Put findings into context and note limitations/strengths.  Why are your findings important to public health and/or what does your study/evaluation add to the to what is known on this topic?

Questions? Please contact John S. Finnell (john.finnell@va.gov) or Alison M. Whitehead (alison.whitehead@va.gov), our Program Planning co-chairs. 

We look forward to receiving your submissions, apply here! https://apha.org/Events-and-Meetings/Annual/Program/Call-for-Abstracts/ICTHP

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Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

John Finnell, ND, MPH, LAc
drfinnell@gmail.com