Homeopathy 2020; 109(01): A1-A28
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1702078
Oral Abstracts
The Faculty of Homeopathy

Randomised Controlled Trials

Clare Relton
1   Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit (PCTU), Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom
2   School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
05 February 2020 (online)

 

There have been over 180 randomised controlled trials of homeopathy published in the English language peer reviewed scientific journals since 1940. Do these trials prove that homeopathy works?

Clare describes her 15-year journey to answer this and other related questions:

What are randomised controlled trials? How are they designed, conducted and interpreted? What is the difference between a randomised controlled trial and an observational study? What are pragmatic trials? What do ‘Homeopathy’ trials test? Treatment by homeopaths? Homeopathic medicines, or something else? Can we design trials that will help patients, clinicians, and homeopaths make the best decisions?

This talk illuminates this modern ‘scientific’ tool, and the economic, political and cultural forces that continue to shape trials, and concludes by offering suggestions for homeopathy trials in the future.

Keywords: Randomised controlled trials, pragmatic