Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 29
The purpose of this study was to explain the delivery of care by classical homoeopaths.
A grounded theory design was used to interview 36 homoeopaths trained either in CAM (n = 18) or as allopathic providers (n = 18). Questions focused on the goal of care, the process of care delivery, decision-making processes, including remedy selection, and evaluation strategies. Individual and focus group interview questions progressed from open-ended and non-directive (cohort 1) to a more focused format (cohorts 2 and 3). The final ‘expert’ cohort was asked to critique the emergent theoretical structures and suggest revisions.
A substantive middle-range theory that describes the delivery of care by classical homoeopaths in the USA was developed. Theoretical categories fully explain: (i) the goals of care, (ii) the actions, cognitive processes and techniques used by homoeopaths in care decisions and (iii) mediating/modifying social-psychological social-structural processes and variables.
The findings suggest that while homoeopaths are engaged in a single basic social process, the core purpose of which is to free human potential, they hold two basic approaches to healing (unitary and integrative), which serve as a divergent force within the discipline of homoeopathy in the USA. These two approaches to healing are grounded in widely divergent philosophical beliefs about the nature of the patient and the way that healing occurs. We hypothesise that these findings provide systematic evidence that helps to explain the tension existing among US homoeopaths as well as a basis for the development of further investigation and intervention studies.
Funding for this study was received from the US National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (# 1 R-21 AT 0013 19-01).
