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This is a graduate level course that would also be appropriate for upper division students. The course provides an overview of alternative healing practices and complementary medicine approaches being used with increasing frequency by Americans to improve their health and increase their longevity. Alternatives to the conventional medical approach to health and disease have become increasingly popular among consumers in the past several decades. The attraction of such approaches is that many promote wellness and preservation of health while being viewed as potentially less harmful than traditional medicine. In response to consumer demand the medical community has in the past decade begun to scientifically examine some alternative approaches, and in some instances to embrace and incorporate non-traditional therapies. Through lectures and reading material the student will be provided with current topical information and a critical analysis of available knowledge on a wide range of alternative therapies and therapeutic approaches to health and disease. The first part of the course examines what is meant by the broad terms alternative therapy, integrative medicine and complimentary medicine, why the increasing interest in this aspect of health care has come about and provides an evidence-based approach to reviewing current knowledge and research in this area. The course then explores by topic a number the more common areas of complementary and alternative medicine in today's health care system. For each topic an historical background of the approach is provided, current use is discussed and the scientific evidence supporting or refuting each approach is reviewed. The course concludes with an examination of the incorporation of alternative medical practices into mainstream health care and the public and private policies that have developed that affect this change. At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to demonstrate knowledge of:
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