Common Illnesses and the Use of CAM

Common Illnesses and the Use of CAM

The Course Outcome covered this week is CO1.

CO1: Identify theories, concepts, and beliefs related to transcultural nursing. (PO1)

We encounter patients after they have explored various avenues of self-help. At times, these avenues involve the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Our readings this week are very helpful.

Select a common (or not so common) illness or condition that affects a specific ethnic group.

Identify two (2) CAM therapies that patients are likely to try before seeking (or in addition to) allopathic, osteopathic, or ayurvedic medical intervention for the illness or condition.

Discuss the effectiveness of each therapy you identified.

Note: Do not discuss an illness or condition about which a classmate has already posted. The diversity will lead to a more robust discussion. There are many examples you may discuss, including sickle-cell disease in African Americans, constipation in the elderly people, or the use of Reiki for mental and emotional healing by Japanese people. Think of others from your practice settings or prelicensure experiences.

bjectives. The purpose of our study was to determine the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and its clinical and psycho-social correlates, including perceived satisfaction with care and cultural health beliefs.

Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out in public sector primary care clinics in Singapore using a random sample of 488 adult patients with chronic diseases. The measures were CAM use, satisfaction with care and traditional health beliefs.

Results. The 1 year prevalence of CAM use was 22.7%. In univariate analyses, factors associated with CAM use included: middle age, arthritis, musculoskeletal disorders and stroke, multiple conditions, poor perceived health, family use of CAM, recommendation by close social contacts, strong adherence to traditional health beliefs and perceived satisfaction with care. Patients who were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied with the cost of treatment [odds ratio (OR) = 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15–2.82] and waiting time (OR = 1.96, 95% CI 1.20–3.19) were more likely to use CAM. Patients who were very satisfied with the benefit from treatment were much less likely to use CAM (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.29–0.83). Satisfaction with doctor–patient interaction was not associated with CAM use. Being ‘very satisfied’ on overall care satisfaction was significantly associated with much less CAM use (OR = 0.30, 95% CI 0.14–0.68). Multivariate analyses confirmed that CAM use was significantly and independently predicted by the ‘chronic disease triad’ (arthritis/musculoskeletal disorders/stroke) (OR = 4.08, 95% CI 2.45–6.83), overall satisfaction with care (OR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.14–0.74) and strong adherence to traditional health beliefs (OR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.07–3.31).

Conclusion. CAM use in Asian patients is prevalent and associated with the ‘chronic disease triad’ (of arthritis, musculoskeletal disorders and stroke), satisfaction with care and cultural beliefs. In particular, CAM use is not associated with the quality of doctor–patient interaction.