|
SEEKING ALTERNATIVE MEDICAL TREATMENT
Those who decide to use complementary and alternative medicine tend not to make this decision on a whim. In fact, in many cases, those who seek alternative medical care or a combination of alternative and medical care tend to be more educated than those who rely solely on traditional health care. In addition, they are more likely to be middle-aged and have a middle-class socioeconomic status. In a randomized study of several thousand patients seeking care for low back pain through traditional, allopathic providers versus chiropractic providers, Eisenberg and colleagues found that those seeking chiropractic care for low back pain tended to be more likely to question their providers about the nature and extent of recommended treatments. Findings indicate that those who seek alternative care do so for one of three reasons:
1. Dissatisfaction. Patients are unhappy with ineffective treatment or treatment that has resulted in adverse effects, they find traditional allopathic medicine too impersonal and technologically oriented, and some find it too costly. Also, it appears that managed care may have pushed some people out of the allopathic system. Many began to distrust it after their own negative experiences seeing family members have problems with the system.
2. Need for personal control. CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) therapies are often viewed as less authoritarian and more empowering.
3. Philosophical congruence. For some, CAM is just a better fit for their worldview. Referred to as cultural creatives, these CAM users tend to be committed to the environment; to feminism; to involvement with esoteric forms of spirituality and personal growth psychology, including self-actualization and self-expression; and to exploring anything foreign and exotic. These individuals also tend to identify with cultural change and innovation and are among those most likely to adopt one of the more alternative treatments.
In addition to the above findings, Eisenberg\'s research indicated the following points:
1. CAM users didn\'t have a particularly negative attitude toward traditional medicine.
2. Racial or ethnic status didn\'t predict CAM usage.
3. Men and women were equally likely to use CAM.
4. Those with poorer health status were more likely to use CAM.
5. Some conditions, particularly low back pain and other chronic pain conditions, predict higher CAM usage.
6. Cultural creatives were more likely to use CAM.
7. Those who had gone through a transformational experience that had changed their worldview were more likely to use CAM.
8. The need for greater control was not part of the CAM users\' motive for seeking CAM treatments.
*362/277/5*
GENERAL HEALTH
|
