The use of complementary/alternative health care by men with prostate cancer

Objective

To explore the factors influencing complementary/alternative health care (CAHC) use among men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

To determine the prevalence of CAHC use in men with prostate cancer.

Materials and methods

Focus groups were used to explore decision factors. Men with prostate cancer were recruited from local support groups and cancer centres. Each 2-h discussion was led by a moderator and audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and coded using constant-comparison analysis. A survey was mailed to a random sample of 737 men diagnosed with prostate cancer to determine the prevalence of use of CAHC.

Results

Twenty-nine men participated in five focus groups. Decisions to use CAHC in the management of their prostate cancer were influenced by a variety of factors including: age, co-morbid conditions, disease stage, personal beliefs, experiences with both CAHC and conventional care and the need for control or action.

The response rate to the survey was 73%. Eight per cent had visited CAHC practitioners and 29% had used CAHC products/therapies for their prostate cancer care. Detailed analysis of the survey data is ongoing.

Conclusion

The men in our focus groups who chose to use CAHC were pushed towards it by a variety of factors including fear of adverse effects associated with conventional treatments, negative experiences with conventional practitioners and ineffective conventional treatment. The implications of these findings are very significant given that almost one-third of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are using CAHC.