Objective
Summary of objectives
The main objective of COST B4 is to carry out research into the therapeutic significance of unconventional medicine, its cost/benefit ratio and its sociocultural importance, as a basis for evaluation of its possible usefulness or risks in public health. Areas to be considered are :
- Medical research
facilitate competitive and fruitful research activities by the examination of literature sources, the setting-up of literature data banks, and the possibility of co-ordinating existing literature sources;
document the levels of preclinical and clinical research for individual unconventional medical procedures by means of critical reviews of available data;
develop and evaluate procedures for demonstrating the efficacy of individual unconventional medical procedures and establish an appropriate advisory service for researchers in this field;
- Social, cultural and psychological aspects :
research the origins and the historical background of unconventional medical procedures (cultural-anthropological aspects);
evaluate the motivation and reasons on the part of doctors and patients for the administration of unconventional medical procedures;
research the distribution and the social, economic and cultural stratification of individual unconventional medical procedures;
- Legislative research and economic aspects
examine the economic motivation for, and implications of, the use of unconventional medicine;
compare legislation and case law concerning the practice and delivery of unconventional medicine in European countries and/or assess the feasibility of their harmonisation.
The benefits of the Action will be :
a demonstration of the possibilities, limitations and significance of unconventional medicine as part of European health care;
the establishment of a common scientific background in the field;
to impress upon physicians as well as practitioners of unconventional medicine the necessity of an improved terminology in order to facilitate the dialogue;
a possible harmonisation of legislation.
Current status
Working Group organisation
The Management Committee has established several Working Groups until now :
- Working Group
"Literature Review - Basic Research"; Co-ordinator : M. Van Wassenhoven (B)
- Working Group
"Literature Review - Sociocultural Aspects"; Co-ordinator : T. Vaskilampi (FIN)
- Working Group
"Literature Review - Clinical Research"; Co-ordinator : A. Wickers (UK)
- Working Group
"Constraint Analysis"; Co-ordinator : W. Betz (B)
- Working Group
"Workshop"; Co-ordinator : B. Eikard (DK)
- Working Group
"Thermalism"; Co-ordinator : R. Casale (I)
- Legislation
- Compendium of definitions of UM terminology
- Quality of Research in Unconventional Medicine
- Database of research related persons and activities
Short Term Scientific Missions
- Fourteen Short-Term Scientific Missions were approved by the Management Committee in 1996.
Contracts
- Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen (DK) - "Updating and electronic distribution of COST B4 database".
Work planned
The goal for 1997 is to write the final report of the COST B4 action. This report will include a factual report of Activities, a list of publications as a result of scientific collaboration in the COST action, reports of national delegates and topics that have been fully studied in the frame of the action (Literature Reviews, Constraint Analysis etc.). A series of Working Groups are still working on documents aimed to answer the Memorandum of Understanding. These documents will be finalised and added to the final report.
The goal of 1998 will be the preparation of a final conference and the possible prolongation of the action.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Coordinator
1049 Brussels
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.