CAM-courses and youngsters

[jli]

According to this CAM courses at universities are shutting down because of lacking interest among students. Perhaps the youngsters are smarter than they sometimes are credited for.

 

[Rolfe]

Rolfe.

 

[JennyJo]

Wow, you are happy!

 

[Mojo]

There was some disappointment expressed over at the badscience forum that this was the result of lack of demand rather than the universities being persuaded that they shouldn't award BScs for nonsense. If this was the basis for the decision I think it's actually quite encouraging.

 

[Mojo]

Perhaps the youngsters are smarter than they sometimes are credited for.

Was it "youngsters" who were on these courses in the first place? I'd be interested to see the age profile for them, given that the courses are likely to recruit from believers, and the typical user of CAM appears to be Middle Class, Middle Aged and Middle Educated (hence "Mrs. McMame" can now be substituted for "GROLIES").

 

[JennyJo]

The percentage of young people using CAM is not as high as their middle-aged clientle, but is still quite impressive.
See http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats/2007/camsurvey_fs1.htm#most and http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nen023

Might be interesting to find what kind of people want to "study" CAM.

Was it "youngsters" who were on these courses in the first place?

It it weren't younsters, it just proves Jli's point about them even more. And if also the middle-aged aren't finding it interesting anymore, there is hope of them dying out.

 

[jli]

Was it "youngsters" who were on these courses in the first place? I'd be interested to see the age profile for them, given that the courses are likely to recruit from believers, and the typical user of CAM appears to be Middle Class, Middle Aged and Middle Educated (hence "Mrs. McMame" can now be substituted for "GROLIES").

Hard to tell. I just assumed that university studies in general are sought by youngsters rather than us not so young anymore. But it sure would be interesting to see charactersitics of those who did enroll.

 

[JennyJo]

http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/american-institute-of-alternative-medicine

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2000.6.231

This one is interesting. It says that a less scientific worldview is a better indicator of health science students’ positive attitude towards CAM than other important background characteristics:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y43754183j25k334/

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/american-institute-of-alternative-medicine

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2000.6.231

This one is interesting. It says that a less scientific worldview is a better indicator of health science students’ positive attitude towards CAM than other important background characteristics:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y43754183j25k334/

The conclusions of the paper in the third link are pretty much what I expected but it's nice to see a study that demonstrates that they are scientifically supported.

 

[Physiotherapist]

I have a friend and colleague who studied at the University of Westminster and she said that the majority of the students on her course were older, being in their early to mid 30's and 40's. However, there were a minority in their 20's.

She did what was then a Bsc in Therapeutic Bodywork - what is now Remedial Massage and Neuromuscular Therapy, the degree which has just been suspended.

I am not surprised that this course has been withdrawn. It is just that there is competition out there from other courses and schools and I don't think that the course Westminster was offering was different enough from the others.

I think that looking at that course, if students want academic study achieving a degree at the end of it, they might consider going and studying Osteopathy for 4 years instead, or going and doing a degree in Physiotherapy over 3 years.

If they want more practical courses rather than academic courses, then there are plenty of schools that offer diplomas in Sports and Remedial Massage, that a lot of students would consider undertaking instead.

I don't know anything about the homeopathy course, but as far as the bodywork courses go, if they are not offering anything that different from other courses that are on offer, prospective students will not be encouraged to apply.