The Use of Alternative Medicine - Research Paper Example

?Alternative Medicine Literature Review The prominent question surrounding the use of alternative medicine is whether there is enough evidence that confirms the benefits accrued from its use. The scepticism is based on the fact that the health benefits of the alternative medicine have not been fully assessed in a satisfactory way. According to Micozzi (2006), “Allopathic medicine is considered the “scientific” healing art, whereas the alternatives have been considered “non-scientific” (p. 3). Allopathic medicine is more popular across the health care divide because satisfactory research and evidence is available to support its use. According to Kaptchuk (2002), most research studies related to alternative medicine rely on the placebo effects. The effect of the alternative medicine can thus be related to harnessing of placebo effects for therapeutic benefits. Most effective and successive placebo processes require a certain degree of deception whereby the patient is deceived that the medication that they are receiving is active treatment. Kaptchuk confirms that the therapeutic patterns that characterise placebo are more effective in the unconventional healing when they integrate the use of alternative healing. Alternative medicine has been found to be successful in promoting placebo effects in health care delivery. Rather than the fastidious efficacy, alternative medicine may administer a higher positive impact towards health promotion i.e. performative efficacy. Methodology The research focused on the issues related to alternative medicine and its relationship to placebo effects. The research was geared towards answering the question, “Can alternative medicine cure specific conditions such as cancer or is it limited to sickness where positive results can be explained by the placebo effect?” Design The research participants were block-randomised whereby every block consisted of five informants. The intra-subject differences were eliminated by ensuring that the participants are fed with almost the same dietary propositions within neutral environmental conditions. There was no method adjustment after the commencement of the study. Participants The eligibility criterion for the participants was 18 to 50 years. The participants included both men and women who have lived with the cancer for a minimum of 4 years. The medical personnel involved in the research conducted tests on these participants to ensure that there are additional health complications that may be affecting them apart from cancer. The participants were supposed to be undergoing alternative medication. However, five of them were supposed to be including placebo in their alternative medication. The informants were chosen in a way that guaranteed insightfulness in the topic of research. Selection was conducted through theoretical sampling i.e. through deductive and inductive methods. The participants were supposed to engage in the prescribed conditions to ensure that the only changes noted were those caused due to the absence or presence of placebo. The research was approved by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. All participants were provided with written consent on the details of the research and given the freedom to choose on whether their cure will involve placebo or not for a period of six months. After completing the entire research and allocation of monetary rewards, the participants were contacted for briefing and final consent. No adverse effects were noted. Sample Size The study recruited 10 participants; 5 under placebo and alternative medicine influence while the remaining five under the influence of alternative medicine only. The continuous subjective outcome for those under the influence of placebo was 0.36, type I error of 0.05, paired design and a ten per cent drop-out rate (Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche, 2001). The focus group was composed of six medical personnel. Intervention The participants were advised to abstain from drinking or smoking behaviours during the study period as this could compromise the integrity of study results. All of them were supposed to sleep for a minimum of eight hours daily all through the process. The participants were required to take orthomolecular medicine that consisted nutritional supplements, canitine, melatonin, vitamins and co-enzyme Q10 (Krogsboll and Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche, 2009). The daily amounts of the food supplements were standardised to ensure that nutrition is not a limiting factor. Efficient nutrition enhances the healing process through negating intrusive factors that may compromise the results of the study. Those under the influence of placebo were supposed to sign a memorandum that they will be including placebo in their medications as per the doctor’s instructions. Data Collection Methods The methods employed were geared towards bringing together the theoretical and empirical data. The theoretical data was drawn from an extensive literature review on health promotion, alternative medicine, placebo effects, diseases especially cancer and placebo effects. The empirical work was exploratory and involved application of qualitative field work processes. Data collection was conducted through interviewing 10 key informants suffering from cancer and a focus group of medical personnel. The exercise involved a prolonged scrutiny of the victims with the healing progress being noted through observation, interviews on their condition and acquiring detailed information from the doctors. The methodology was extensively related to the practices and principles of contemporary ethnography. This enabled the researchers adopt an extensive interviewing process whereby the researchers could derive detailed information on the recuperation process through analysis of the scanty information provided by patients. Interviewing process employed the assistance of the health promoters from educational sectors and therapists from a wide range of health disciplines. Professionals from a wide range of medicinal fraternity were interviewed and their views on the relationships between alternative medicine and placebo effect in curing specific diseases noted. Although the research was centred on one location, the wide theoretical references provided the necessary information on the impact of alternative medicine on disease cure and its relationship to placebo effect (Kaptchuk, Kelley and Conboy, 2008). A focus group, consisting of national health coordinators in America was also interviewed. This contributed to a wide range of insights into the research. Randomisation The randomisation schedule was derived from the theoretical sources on the research on alternative medicine. The group assignment was concealed prior to the randomisation from the participants and the study coordinators who formulated them. The interventions were delivered to the participants by researchers. Clarity The study coordinators who were involved in the data collection were enlightened on the study designs and the assignments granted to the participants. The participants were fully informed on the true nature of the study and their individual assignment. Health Care Methods Some of the alternative medical methods that were involved in the research study include the use of oriental medicine, homeoparthy, ayurvedic and naturopathy. All participants undertook pharmacological as well as biological-based therapies such as immunoaugmentative and metabolic therapies. Those on placebo effect underwent manipulative and body-based systems such as osteopathic, massage therapy, chiropractic and other forms of physical therapies (Wampold et al, 2005: 835-854). Statistical Methods Monthly tests were conducted on participants and disparities in their mode of recuperation analysed after natural logarithmic transformation then back-transformed. The difference between the two groups was then expressed as geometric means ratio. The analytical model consisted of differential information appropriately nested within groups, intervention, and period and baseline value. The mean percentage of the participant recuperation characteristics was evaluated through the use of t-test. The results of the study were presented through statistical tables and figures such as charts. References Hrobjartsson, A. & Gotzsche P.C. (2001) Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment, N Engl J Med, vol. 344, pp. 1594-1602. Kaptchuk, T.J. (2002) The placebo effect in alternative medicine: can the performance of a healing ritual have clinical significance? Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 136, no. 11, pp. 817-825. Kaptchuk, T.J., Kelley, J.M., Conboy, L.A., et al. (2008) Components of placebo effect: randomized controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, BMJ, vol. 336, no. 7651, pp. 999-1003. Krogsboll, L.T., Hrobjartsson, A. & Gotzsche, P.C. (2009) Spontaneous improvement in randomized clinical trials: meta-analysis of three-armed trials comparing no treatment, placebo and active intervention. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 9:1. Micozzi, M. (2006) Fundamentals of complementary and integrative medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, Saunders Elsevier, p. 3. Wampold, B.E., Minami, T., Tierney, S.C., Baskin, T.W. & Bhati, K.S. (2005) The placebo is powerful: Estimating placebo effects in medicine and psychotherapy from randomized clinical trials, Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 61, pp. 835-854. Read More