CAM Research
PowerPoint presented at the Medical Library Assn. (MLA) 2012 meeting outlining funding challenges and emerging approaches for CAM research.
Books
Updated 5/10/12
Purpose of this guide
This guide provides resources that point to new directions in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research. The field has advanced significantly since the founding of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the NIH in 1992. Over the years, researchers have identified the strengths and weaknesses of existing methodologies, and are now exploring new initiatives to advance CAM's clinical evidence base. Holism, represented by and within each individual as well as in the "ecological landscapes" they inhabit, is one of CAM's most salient features; reflecting this, research approaches are also becoming more holistic. For example, including both qualitative and quantitative research, and not just RCTs, but observational studies as well, provides a multi-perspective view of a topic; also, the emerging whole system, or whole practice, research approach recognizes CAM's most basic tenents, i.e. highly individualized and multi-modal (therefore, synergistic) treatment protocols.
Articles
- Researching complementary and alternative treatments--the gatekeepers are not at homeProposes a "real world" model for studying CAM therapies and compares it to the standard method for introducing new treatments to clinical use.
- The untenable boundaries of biomedical knowledge: epistemologies and rhetoric strategies in the debate over evaluating complementary andf alternative medicineDiscusses "contemporary epistemologies in discussing the struggles between the proponents of diverse medical approaches--some accepted as scientific and others that have not gained this status."
- Alternative medicine research in clinical practiceCross-sectional survey of U.S. acupuncturists, naturopathic doctors, internists, and rheumatologists. "For clinical research in CAM to achieve its social value, concerted efforts must be undertaken to train clinicians and improve the dissemination of research results."
Websites
- Integrator BlogWhat's happenin' in the CAM fields? John Weeks, publisher/editor, knows!
- National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
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