Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 514
While the increase in complementary therapy utilisation by cancer patients has been mostly documented through cross-sectional surveys, little is known about trends over time. The purpose of this presentation is to describe patterns and predictors of long-term CT use in a representative sample of Canadian cancer patients.
Following an initial stratified random sampling method, 2634 patients consented to have their name forwarded to a centralised call centre and 2064 (79%) completed the first 30-min telephone survey, on average 16 months after diagnosis. The initial survey included information about respondents’ characteristics, their cancer treatment, CT use for general health as well as for cancer, beliefs about CT, and communication with their main healthcare provider. Six months later, 1643 participants answered the follow-up survey focused on similar questions. The final analysis included 1450 respondents.
Prevalence of CT use decreased by 20% at time 2 compared with the initial survey. Respondents mainly reported CTs were no longer needed or were not helping. Reasons for continuous use and new uptake were attributed to increasing well-being and fighting cancer. Although mean CT use did not change, specific modalities showed important up or down variations. Health beliefs, disease status, and psychosocial characteristics were found to predict sustained use.
Prevalence of CT use is not stable over time and is influenced by patients’ perceptions of efficacy, overall health status, and other psychosocial attributes. High variation was found in the use of specific modalities. Clinical implications will be discussed.
