Gustavo De Lezameta
A Case History Based Study to ‘Examine the Consistency of Nutritional Advice Given in the Treatment of IBS at the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine
Abstract
Aims and Objectives: the aim of this study was to examine the dietary and nutritional advice given to patients at the Scottish school of herbal medicine, and by looking at the extent of it’s uniformity across several cases, to see if any underlying dietary theory was discernable.
Methods: this was an examination of the written evidence of 6 case histories, a literature search, and two semi structured interviews with tutors at the S.S.H.M.
Results: the literature search showed that there is some limited evidence for dietary treatments in orthodox medicine, which include the exclusion of foods to which there are dietary intolerances. The interviews showed that there was some grounding of this information in practice at the clinic: most patients were questioned about diet in a reasonable manner. Anomalies in consistency of advice may occur when a different student herbalist takes the case. A full analysis of data was not possible due to case notes containing less information than anticipated.
Conclusions: Dietary advice is likely to be consistent at the S.S.H.M., from patient to patient. However, it may vary when student herbalist or their supervisor changes. There are some perspectives on dietary theory which are, but more detailed research would be required to fully assess them, using more than one data source to ensure that the full range of information necessary to resolve the question was obtained.
