Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Mar;3(1):3-12.
doi: 10.1093/ecam/nek017. Epub 2006 Feb 5.

Evidence-based research in complementary and alternative medicine II: the process of evidence-based research

Francesco Chiappelli  1 , Paolo Prolo, Monica Rosenblum, Myeshia Edgerton, Olivia S Cajulis
Affiliations

Evidence-based research in complementary and alternative medicine II: the process of evidence-based research

Francesco Chiappelli et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2006 Mar.

Abstract

It is a common practice in contemporary medicine to follow stringently the scientific method in the process of validating efficacy and effectiveness of new or improved modes of treatment intervention. It follows that these complementary or alternative interventions must be validated by stringent research before they can be reliably integrated into Western medicine. The next decades will witness an increasing number of evidence-based research directed at establishing the best available evidence in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This second paper in this lecture series examines the process of evidence-based research (EBR) in the context of CAM. We outline the fundamental principles, process and relevance of EBR, and its implication to CAM. We underscore areas of future development in EBR. We note that the main problem of applying EBR to CAM at present has to do with the fact that the contribution of EBR can be significant only to the extent to which studies used in the process of EBR are of good quality. All too often CAM research is not of sufficient quality to warrant the generation of a consensus statement. EBR, nevertheless, can contribute to CAM by identifying current weaknesses of CAM research. We present a revised instrument to assess quality of the literature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The process of evidence-based research in complementary and alternative medicine.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Algorithm of the process of applying research evidence in clinical decision making [adapted from (5)].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper: papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta-analyses) BMJ. 1997;315:672–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Friedland DJ, Go AS, Davoren JB, Shlipak MG, Bent SW, Subak LL, Mendelson T. Evidence-based Medicine: A Framework for Clinical Practice. Stamford: Appleton & Lange; 1998.
    1. Chiappelli F, Prolo P. Evidence-based dentistry for the 21st century. Gen Dent. 2002;50:270–3. - PubMed
    1. Abt E. Complexities of am evidence-based clinical practice. J Evid Based Dent Pract. 2004;4:200–9.
    1. Chiappelli F, Prolo P, Negoatis N, Lee A, Milkus V, Bedair D, Delgodei S, Concepcion E, Crowe J, Termeie D, Webster R. Tools and methods for evidence-based research in dental practice: preparing the future. In: Proceedings of 1st Int Conf Evidence-Based Dental Practice. J Evidence Based Dental Pract. 2004;4:16–23.