ArticleFrontiers in public health2026
Safeguarding traditional Chinese medicine intangible cultural heritage and enabling its potential public health reuse: a theory-informed qualitative study in Jiangsu, China.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: TCM intangible cultural heritage (ICH) preserves medical knowledge, embodied therapeutic and pharmaceutical skills, and culturally embedded health practices. This study examined how such heritage may be safeguarded as a living knowledge system while enabling potential reuse in public health-related settings. Methods: We conducted an abductive, theory-informed qualitative analysis using grounded theory coding procedures. Fifteen semi-structured stakeholder interviews constituted the primary analytical dataset, while 32 policy documents, safeguarding reports, public heritage descriptions, and media materials were used for contextualization and triangulation. Data-led open and axial coding generated 17 categories and six main categories. Only after this category system had stabilized was Schellenberg's dual-value theory used for post-coding interpretation. Results: The data-led stage generated 17 categories and six main categories. A subsequent theory-informed stage organized the six main categories into three higher-order interpretive domains: internal capabilities, external drivers, and amplification pathways. The model proposes that public-health-related reuse may generate resources, recognition, institutional support, and transmission incentives that feed back into primary-value safeguarding. The higher-order domains and the primary/secondary-value mapping constitute post-coding analytical interpretations. Conclusion: TCM ICH can be understood as a living cultural and knowledge-practice resource with potential public health relevance. The findings offer a provisional, mechanism-generating account of interactions among safeguarding, institutional support, communication, technology, and regulated market activity. Evaluation of causal effects and population-level health outcomes requires further research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.