ArticleSociology compass2014
The Sociology of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Article in Sociology compass, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Barriers to the conduct and application of research in complementary and alternative medicine: a systematic review.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Family traditions, accessibility and cost shape the continued reliance on Cajanus cajan and Azadirachta indica for malaria and typhoid despite prescription medicines in urban and rural Nsukka, Nigeria.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- Experiences and perspectives of Ayurvedic practitioners on non-communicable disease management in the UK: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Workforce, regulation and capacity needed for integration of traditional medicine.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
- Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Sweden: a cross-sectional survey.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Factors Associated with the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Rural Northern Victoria, Australia.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2025Article
- Auriculotherapy in primary care: profile of graduates from a large-scale course.Revista de saude publica · 2025Article
- Effects of Vibroacoustic Stimulation on Psychological, Physiological, and Cognitive Stress.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- How does the role of complementary and alternative medicine in general practice differ between countries? Interviews with doctors who have worked both in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Open science practices in traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine research: A path to enhanced transparency and collaboration.Integrative medicine research · 2024Article
- Investigating the nature of open science practices across complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine journals: An audit.PloS one · 2024Article
- Interactions between local medical systems and the biomedical system: a conceptual and methodological review in light of hybridization subprocesses.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2023Review
- Article
- In the shadow of the healing rainbow: belonging and identity in the regulation of traditional medicine in Mauritius.Griffith law review · 2023Article
- The 'disenchantment' of traditional acupuncturists in higher education.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2023Article
- Long covid and medical gaslighting: Dismissal, delayed diagnosis, and deferred treatment.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2022Article
- A qualitative investigation of the perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine among adults in Hawai'i.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2022Article
- Legitimating complementary therapies in the NHS: Campaigning, care and epistemic labour.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2022Article
- Association between integrative and complementary health practices and use of dental services among older adults in Brazil: a cross-sectional study, 2019.Epidemiologia e servicos de saude : revista do Sistema Unico de Saude do Brasil · 2022Article
- Semi-automated socio-anthropologic analysis of the medical discourse on rheumatoid arthritis: Potential impact on public health.PloS one · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and traditional medicine (TM) are important social phenomena. This article reviews the sociological literature on the topic. First, it addresses the question of terminology, arguing that the naming process is a glimpse into the complexities of power and history that characterize the field. Second, focusing on the last 15 years of scholarship, it considers how sociological research on users and practitioners of TM/CAM has developed in that time. Third, it addresses two newer strands of work termed here the 'big picture' and the 'big question'. The big picture includes concepts that offer interpretation of what is happening at a societal level to constrain and enable observed patterns of social practice (pluralism, integration, hybridity and activism). The big question, 'Does it work?', is one of epistemology and focuses on two developing fields of critical enquiry - first, social critiques of medical science knowledge production and, second, attempts to explain the nature of interventions, i.e. how they work. Finally, the article examines the role of sociology moving forward.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.