Abstract
M.Phil.
Therapeutic massage therapy (TMT) as a profession has undergone
major transformations on two levels simultaneously in the past five years. The
first is the statutory recognition of TMT as a health profession regulated by the
Department of Health and the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa
(AHPCSA) that has propelled the therapy from the services sector into the
country's primary health care system. The second is the transformation of the
South African education structures requiring TMT to be formalised and
accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority's (SAQA) and the
accommodation of the qualification on the National Qualifications Framework
(NQF) in accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1997. These impetuses
have led to a shift in the profession's approach to how it defines itself and how it
trains future therapists.
The focus of this study is the Massage Therapy Institute's Community
Service Programme (MTI CSP), the focal point of the institution's second year
programme. The CSP entails the combining of practical sessions and community
service in order to expose learners to a wide variety of conditions to encourage
theory-practice integration. It also fosters a social awareness through exposure
to patients from varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in a clinical
setting.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of learners
and educators regarding the efficacy of the programme to integrate theory and
practice and to prepare TMT therapists for a health profession in the primary
health care domain. From the analysis it was apparent that despite a number of
shortcomings, learners and educators agreed that the CSP encouraged theory practice
integration and personal development. They were also able to hone their
professional skills. All participants indicated however, that learners failed to
effectively transfer the knowledge and skills gained during the combined practical
and community service sessions to written learning tasks that formed part of and
tasks outside the programme. This was confirmed by text analysis of treatment and case study reports. The implications for teaching and learning are discussed
in the context of language learning and learning through language in order to
move beyond the what and the how to the why.
It was also clear from the research that participation in the programme led
to perspective transformation in the majority of learners' perception of TMT as a
health profession located in the PHCS. The analysis showed that the reasons for
the exception to this trend, is related more to macro policies rather than the
efficacy of the CSP.
Finally, a number of recommendations are made to improve the
transferability of the knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in the CSP to other
learning tasks and beyond that to learners' personal and public lives. The
recommendations emphasise metacognitive skills and critical reflection to equip
learner-therapists to become fully participating members of a responsible and
relevant health profession.