Success Criteria and Visions for CAM Studies

An international conference arranged by the Danish Ministry of Health's Knowledge and Research Centre for Alternative Medicine (ViFAB). The meeting will focus on the special problems and special possibilities in the emerging scientific study of CAM. It is a multidisciplinary conference aiming at the development of visions and strategies for further research. Ted Kaptchuk, Andrew Weil, Peter Gtzsche, Asbjrn Hrobjartsson, Isabelle Stengers, Vinjar Fnneb, Uffe Juul Jensen, and other experts in CAM research, philosophy of science, psychosocial medicine, designs of clinical trials, etc., will discuss the special problems and the special possibilities offered by CAM as an object field of scientific research. The discussions will combine theoretical and practical approaches to self-selection, self-care, and the bundle of ambiguous phenomena referred to by the concept of "placebo", in order to grasp the many dimensions of ends and means in CAM research. We will also raise the question whether models developed for research in the CAM field may become a useful inspiration for studies of those aspects of "conventional" health care which have, till now, been outside the scope of research-based evaluation. The conference is aimed primarily at physicians and researchers interested in the complex meeting between academic research and alternative medicine. The conference language is English. The full programme and other details are available at http://www.vifab.dk/index_uk.htm (click "conference November 2002")