Towards a new model for health promotion? An analysis of complementary and alternative medicine and models of health promotion

Objective This paper examines the professional interface between health promotion and complementary and alternative medicine from the perspective of five different health promotion models. The objective of this paper is to move forward the current debate concerning collaboration between health promotion and complementary medicine.

Design The paper offers a conceptual analysis of the issues involves in health promotion/complementary medicine collaboration. The views of professionals from either side of the interface are reported under three broad headings: medical and behavioural change models; education and empowerment models; and social change models.

Setting The discussion is grounded in research conducted primarily in the UK, but also in the USA and Eastern Europe.

Methods The study was based on the principles and practices of contemporary ethnography and involved in-depth interviews with over fifty key professional from either side of the interface.

Results Health promoters and complementary therapists mostly reject 'medical model' approaches to health promotion and health care. They come closest when employing educational and empowerment models of practice. Health promoters committed to social action are the least likely to work with complementary medicine.

Conclusion The paper concludes that the level of future collaboration between health promotion and complementary medicine will depend partly on which health promotion models dominate the 21st century. Depending on the response of health promotion to recent policy initiatives, future collaboration between the two areas may offer a new model of practice.