Single-case studies in complementary/alternative medicine research

Abstract: Complementary/alternative medicine poses mumerous methodological problems for researchers. The single-case study is often advocated with a view to solving some of them. In this article, the design is explained and its advantages and disadvantages are discusse. Furthermore the results of computerized leterature searches for such trials are presented. In essence they show that relatively few single case studies have been published so far. It is concluded that the single-case studiy is a useful research tool only for investigating a very specific research question framed in relation to an individual patient.

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