Conventional and Complementary Therapy Use among Mexican Farmworkers in North Carolina: Applying the I-CAM-Q

Abstract

Objectives: This analysis documents the use of conventional health care providers, traditional healers, and complementary therapies by Mexican farmworkers; identifies the purposes and perceived helpfulness of these modalities; and delineates variation in the use of traditional healers and complementary therapies. Methods: Two-hundred Mexican farmworkers in North Carolina completed interviews May-September, 2017. The International Complementary and Alternative Medicine Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q) elicited use of conventional health care providers, traditional healers, and complementary therapies in the previous 12 months. Results: Most of the farmworkers had been treated by a conventional provider (63.0%). One-infive had been treated by any traditional healer; 19.5% had been treated by a sobador, 4.5% by a curandero, 2.0% by an herbalist, and 2.0% by a spiritual healer. Conventional providers (69.8%) and sobadores (84.6%) most often treated acute conditions; 62.5% had used an herb, 46.0% a vitamin, 57.0% an over-the-counter medicine, and 13.5% a home remedy. Participants used various self-care practices, including music (36.5%), sleep (18.0%), prayer for health (15.0%), and social media (14.0%). Education was inversely associated with the use of a traditional healer and herbs; treatment by a conventional health care provider was positively associated with using a traditional healer and vitamins.

Exploring a rural Latino community’s perception of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Traditional Medicine and Help-Seeking Behaviors for Health Problems Among Somali Bantu Refugees Resettled in the United States

“…This study has important implications for the development of patient-centered, culturally sensitive health care that integrates an awareness and respect for medical pluralism among health care providers. Researchers have explored the concept of medical pluralism among other immigrant groups resettled in Europe and North America, including Pakistani migrants (Nasiruddin, 2018), Vietnamese refugees (Nguyen et al, 2016), and Mexican farmworkers and immigrants (Arcury et al, 2019; Sandberg et al, 2018). Similar to our findings, these studies suggest widespread use of traditional medicine and complex pathways to care and decision-making processes around when to use formal or informal care.…”

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in Norway: a cross-sectional survey with a modified Norwegian version of the international questionnaire to measure use of complementary and alternative medicine (I-CAM-QN)

“…From 2012 to present, the questionnaire has been translated and adapted to many different countries and languages [ 15 – 20 ]. The I-CAM-Q instrument has been applied worldwide such as in France [ 15 ], Germany [ 20 ], Iran [ 16 ], Saudi Arabia [ 21 ], US [ 22 , 23 ], Argentina [ 24 ], Japan [ 25 , 26 ], Taiwan [ 17 ], Korea [ 18 ], Cambodia [ 27 ] and Australia [ 28 ]. In 2012 Eardley et al published a paper with the aim to “generate preliminary evidence concerning the face validity, acceptability and basic characteristics of the I-CAM-Q across different populations”.…”