Welcome to Health Studies 301: Alternative Therapies. This three-credit course will introduce you to the range of therapies currently available in Canada that are not normally considered to be part of conventional health care. The purpose of this course is to help you gain an understanding of the nature and practice of various alternative therapies, to analyse the research available about the effectiveness of these therapies, and to identify the trends and issues related to the use of alternative therapies. When you complete Health Studies 301, you should be able to evaluate the risks and benefits of using particular alternative therapies.

Alternative therapies, which are also known as complementary or unorthodox medicine, have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. A substantial proportion of the population use the services of alternative therapy practitioners, particularly for the treatment of chronic disease.

This course reviews some of the reasons that alternative therapies have become so popular; the research base and methodologies used to evaluate the effectiveness of any medical therapy, including alternative therapies; and the information related to the benefits and contraindications of using particular alternative therapies.

The overall intent of Health Studies 301 is to present an objective overview of alternative therapies. The main intent, however, is to provide you with a knowledge of alternative therapies that are currently practised in Canada, to enable you to make your own objective evaluation.