Investigating How East Asian Medical and Biomedical Systems Can Communicate: A Qualitative Exploration of How East Asian Medicine Concepts Can be Used in Modern Health Research

Purpose There is much published science supporting East Asian Medicine (EAM) as a treatment for many health issues. Public Health has made great advancement in understanding the effects of health disparities globally. East Asian Medical Models offer additional ways to think about health disparities. Methods Twelve participants who are Biomedicine and/or Eastern Medicine experts or social scientists were identified from the research team’s network. Our goal in this purposive sample was to represent diverse backgrounds, educational and professional experience, expertise, age, gender, and geographic location. Following IRB approval, all potential subjects identified for recruitment agreed to participate and were consented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each subject on the Zoom © platform, and ranged between 60 and 90 minutes. Recordings were transcribed and checked for accuracy, and double coded for themes. Any disagreement in coding was addressed in discussion between the coders. We assessed the data for saturation on key content areas, and when finding repetition of themes, chose to complete the stage of data analysis. Next, we employed a thematic analysis to better understand the key concepts. Results Seven main themes emerged from the interviews. These are necessary areas to consider when considering health disparities: THREE TREASURES, PATIENT PROVIDER RELATIONSHIP, ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH STATUS in EAM, PRENATAL ESSENCE, POSTNATAL ESSENCE, DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH, BELONGING. Conclusions Scientific discovery and health care will improve with improvement in communication between medical practitioners and scientists from EAM and Biomedicine (BM). We use our data to consider ways that the EAM model of health can add to our understanding of the effects social disparities on health. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The Institutional Review Board at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences oversaw the data collection process (IRB011521C). The Institutional Review Board at Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine oversaw the data analysis process (#9-17-22) I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes