HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE AND PRACTICE

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Homeopathic Medicine And Practice

Abstract

This research examines homeopathic practitioners 'real life' accounts, and illustrates the ways in which they negotiate their homeopathic practices as contingently formulated ongoing social events in research interview settings. Interview transcripts were analysed in a qualitative framework using discourse analysis. The findings show that practitioners construct homeopathy and defend their own individual practices either by 'alignment-with- medicine ' or by 'boosting-the-credibility-of-homeopathy'. Homeopathy is also negotiated and sustained as an 'alternative' to notions of conventional medicine, which is the accepted yardstick for practice or as a practice that is portrayed as problematic. Overall, managing personal credibility is accomplished through specific ways of accounting that tend to marginalise homeopathy. Developing and establishing homeopathic practice further as a discipline in its own right is offered as a 'nucleus' to reduce continuing marginalisation.

Table of Content

Abstractii

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Research1

Rationale1

Problem Statement2

Aim of the Research3

Limitations and Suggestion for Future Research3

Assumptions & Limitation4

Ethical Concerns4

Reliability5

Validity6

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY13

Materials and methods13

Analytical procedure13

CHAPTER 04: DISCUSSION15

Findings15

Discussion23

CHAPTER 05: CONCLUSION26

REFERENCES27

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research

In terms of society the discourse of medicine is long established and powerful, suggesting that language used to describe and give meaning to health related ideas and practices reflects the dominant medical discourse. and Homeopathy is a form of medicine founded by Hahnemann (1755-1843), it appears to have made little impact on current medical thinking. Homeopathy has neither the institutional backing, (Walliman 2001: 85) nor the theoretical persuasiveness to challenge scientific standards which would lead from marginalisation to wider acceptance. and The status of conventional medicine has consequences for all sorts of social actions that legitimise the acceptance of particular ways of constituting social reality about medical, health practices and illness., , , and In comparison to conventional medicine, homeopathy also contributes to a long therapeutic history; in contrast, its aims and beliefs are somewhat opposed to those of the medical mainstream.9

Rationale

Traditionally, homeopathic studies attempt to prove aspects of clinical efficacy in an effort to make an impact in the wider medical environment. and Moreover, accepted scientific research methodology becomes the standard against which other forms of medical research are measured. (Vincent, Furnham 2008:8)The authority of conventional medical practice as a recognised, scientifically researched, discipline leads to attempts to evaluate the efficacy of other non-traditional therapeutic interventions informs of conventional medicine. Evaluated in this way, homeopathy is found not to quite fit the accepted medical criteria. As homeopathy is not evaluated on its own terms, but it is judged on conventional medical territory, it is predictable that it will lose credibility and status as a result of the power of conventional medicine and medical discourse.

In the context of biomedical research, evidence is viewed from an overtly rational perspective as an accurate factual representation of events. and Its findings are not usually considered as social actions constructed in interaction.

Problem Statement

One way of approaching participants' practices is by paying attention to the meanings of actions in interactional settings, examining in particular how participants themselves make sense of their ...