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Alternative Therapies
Source Pharma-CAL-ogy
Versions Available Windows
Authors Kamran Amwar, Nicholas S.Y. Jim, Kath Huckbody and Ian Hughes (University of Leeds)
Summary


Screen shot from the package

Aims and Objectives
The program teaches about a variety of Alternative Therapies and provides detail on some of those which are better known e.g. Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Chiropractic, Herbalism, Osteopathy, Homeopathy and Hypnotherapy. It also deals in less detail with a wide range of less accepted "alternative" therapies (e.g. crystal healing).

In addition, the program presents details of a number of trials involving alternative therapies and teaches students the desirable features of a good clinical trial and how to make judgements about the quality of trial design. The program can be used on a stand-alone basis for independent learning or integrated into a variety of data collection/analysis tasks. Having worked through the program the student should:

- be aware of the history, mode of action, nature, use and limitations of several alternative therapies;
- be familiar with the role and use of alternative therapies in society today;
- know the features of the design of a good clinical trial;
- be able to make judgements concerning quality of trial design;
- be able to make judgements about the effectiveness of alternative therapies from published data.

Program Description
The package describes more than 30 alternative therapies and can therefore be used as a reference tool and to obtain an overview of the variety of alternatives available. It deals in detail with hypnotherapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, homeopathy, and herbalism and for most of these details of a clinical study are provided. The features of a good clinical trial are explained, students are asked to evaluate the quality of the clinical study on the basis of the methodology used and to draw conclusions about the soundness of the results obtained. Self-assessment questions are incorporated into each of the main sections so students can assess their knowledge about alternative therapies and the package would take from 1-4 hours to complete.

 

 
System Requirements

The package is supplied on a CD-ROM Installation Disc and can be installed to a local hard disc or network drive.