integrative

Integrative is an adjective relating to integration or the act of combining separate elements into a unified whole. In practice, integrative approaches seek synthesis across disciplines, methods, or modalities to address complex problems. The term is used across fields to describe efforts that knit together diverse components or perspectives to achieve coherence, compatibility, and a holistic understanding.

In health care, integrative medicine blends conventional medical treatments with evidence-based complementary therapies, such as mind–body practices, nutrition, and physical activity. The aim is patient-centered care, prevention, and the management of lifestyle and psychosocial factors, while maintaining scientific scrutiny of interventions. The term distinguishes integrative medicine from both traditional conventional care and unproven alternative therapies.

In education and science, integrative approaches connect disciplines through thematic or project-based learning, encouraging learners to apply knowledge in real-world contexts. In research and engineering, integrative biology, systems thinking, and transdisciplinary collaborations seek to unify data, methods, and models from multiple domains to study complex phenomena.

In technology and policy, integration covers the joining of hardware, software, and processes to function as a coherent system, as in systems integration and integrative design. In policy and business, integrative strategies align goals across sectors and stakeholders to pursue coordinated, sustainable solutions.