Table 5 Strengths and weakness of IHC intervention studies
Strengths | Challenges/Limitations |
|---|---|
Individualised, tailored | Active components are obscured |
Aims to heal the whole person | Difficult to replicate |
Suits chronic conditions | Poor internal validity |
Good external validity | Not readily transferrable to other sites as dependent on availability of modalities, certification of providers, cost |
Potential to reduce health costs | May require a long trial period with follow up to establish efficacy and cost effectiveness |
Non-specific benefits due to increased attention, health literacy and education | Non-specific benefits may be practitioner dependent. |