Researching Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) have become big business both in Australia and other western countries. Alongside the growing consumption and provision of CAM has emerged a small but significant body of research literature exploring these medicines. Nevertheless, CAM research is in its infancy and there is a real and urgent need for further capacity building in this area of study. CAM remains heavily under-researched and the growing number of private and University CAM courses and qualifications acknowledge and address this need for further research capacity building. With this context in mind, this book constitutes a valuable and timely resource for those looking to understand, initiate and expand CAM research. The collection brings together leading international CAM researchers (UK, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) with backgrounds and expertise in health social science, statistics, qualitative methodology, general practice, clinical trials methodology, clinicalpharmacology, health services research and public health. Contributors draw upon their own CAM research work and experience to explain and review core methods and research issues pertinent to the contemporary field of CAM and its future development. The book addresses such questions as: what is the use and limitation of evidence in CAM research? What are the issues facing practitioners (GPs, therapists, nurses, etc) who wish to conduct research? How and why should qualitative methods be combined alongside quantitative methods to help explore CAM? How does the randomized control trial (RCT) method relate to CAM? What types of research questions relating to CAM can be addressed by various methods? What should be the future direction of CAM research in terms of public health and policy-related agendas?