Open AccessPatients' Interactions With Physicians and Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners: Older Women With Breast Cancer and Self-Managed Health Care
Author(s) -
Shelley R. Adler,
Judith Wrubel,
Ellen Hughes,
Harriet Beinfield
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
integrative cancer therapies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1552-695X
pISSN - 1534-7354
DOI - 10.1177/1534735408329410
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , breast cancer , alternative medicine , health care , qualitative research , cancer , complementary medicine , nursing , social science , pathology , sociology , economics , economic growth
Older patients are more likely than ever to be under the care of both physicians and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, yet there is little research on older patients' experience of these different relationships. This article addresses older breast cancer patients' seeking of concurrent care and examines patients' understandings of interactions with physicians and CAM practitioners. This is a qualitative study of a random, population-based sample of 44 older women with breast cancer who are simultaneously under the care of at least 1 physician and 1 CAM practitioner.