Health Literacy Considerations for Users of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Harnett, Susan; Morgan-Daniel, Jane

doi:10.1080/15398285.2018.1415593

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Considering that most Australian women seek biomedical care during pregnancy and that high use of complementary medicines in pregnancy has been noted, it is not surprising that for this study, like others, biomedical HCPs were identified as important sources of CMPs information in pregnancy, especially when these HCPs were integrative practitioners and demonstrated some knowledge and experience with CAM. However, this finding does contrast with other research that shows it is uncommon for women to engage in discussions regarding their CMP use with their biomedical practitioners, either because these practitioners do not ask about CMPs, women do not consider discussing CMPs with them, or they fear negative reactions from their doctors or midwives if they raise CMP use with them . The positive therapeutic relationship identified between study participants and their trusted HCPs was a key factor in women's perceptions of the high quality of information received from these HCPs.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

“…However, this finding does contrast with other research that shows it is uncommon for women to engage in discussions regarding their CMP use with their biomedical practitioners, either because these practitioners do not ask about CMPs, 24,81 women do not consider discussing CMPs with them, 82 or they fear negative reactions from their doctors or midwives if they raise CMP use with them. 22,47,48,83 The positive therapeutic relationship identified between study participants and their trusted HCPs was a key factor in women's perceptions of the high quality of information received from these HCPs. This is especially important to note when considering women's primary desire to know that the CMPs they chose to take were safe.…”

Section: Women's Communicative Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24,42,43 An important socio-demographic component of health literacy is education, and advanced literacy and education levels have been shown to be strong predictors of positive health status. [44][45][46] Whilst the demographic profile of most pregnant and breastfeeding CAM users in wealthy countries like Australia means they may not initially be considered to be at risk for limited functional health literacy, 47 their actual health literacy levels have not been previously explored. In instances where self-prescribing is common, functional health literacy may be particularly important.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation

Barnes

Barclay

McCaffery

et al. 2019

Health Expectations

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BackgroundLittle is known about women's decision‐making processes regarding using complementary medicine products (CMPs) during pregnancy or lactation.ObjectivesTo explore the decision‐making processes of women choosing to use CMPs in pregnancy and lactation; and to investigate how women's health literacy influences their decisions.Design, setting and participantsIn‐depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with twenty‐five pregnant and/or breastfeeding women. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsKey to women's decision making was the desire to establish a CMPs safety and to receive information from a trustworthy source, preferably their most trusted health‐care practitioner. Women wanted positive therapeutic relationships with health‐care practitioners and to be highly involved in the decisions they made for the health of themselves and their children. Two overarching components of the decision‐making process were identified: (a) women's information needs and (b) a preference for CMP use. Women collated and assessed information from other health‐care practitioners, other mothers and published research during their decision‐making processes. They showed a strong preference for CMP use to support their pregnancy and breastfeeding health, and that of their unborn and breastfeeding babies.Discussion and ConclusionsComplex decision‐making processes to use CMPs in pregnancy and lactation were identified. The participants showed high levels of communicative and critical health literacy skills in their decision‐making processes. These skills supported women's complex decision‐making processes.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Section: Women's Communicative Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation

Barnes

Barclay

McCaffery

et al. 2019

Health Expectations

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“…However, as noted earlier, most of the participants wanted more comprehensive CMPs information than their HCPs provided, and so searched further to answer questions regarding the safety profiles and possible benefits of CMPs. Previous research has noted that many biomedical HCPs may not feel adequately informed to discuss complementary medicine with their patients [53], simply do not ask about CMP use [49, 54, 55], or discussion does not occur because women do not disclose CMP use, because they do not think it necessary [56] or because they worry that these HCPs will react negatively [14, 32, 53, 54]. It may be that some of the women’s biomedical HCPs were not adequately informed about CMPs, and so were unable to provide the amount of comprehensive information that the participants wanted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing women’s decision-making regarding complementary medicine product use in pregnancy and lactation

Barnes

Barclay

McCaffery

et al. 2019

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background The prevalence of complementary medicine product (CMP) use by pregnant or breastfeeding Australian mothers is high, however, there is limited data on factors influencing women’s decision-making to use CMPs. This study explored and described the factors influencing women’s decisions take a CMP when pregnant or breastfeeding. Methods Qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with 25 pregnant and/or breastfeeding women who currently used CMPs. Participants’ health literacy was assessed using a validated single-item health literacy screening question and the Newest Vital Sign. Interview and focus group discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Results Participants were a homogenous group. Most had higher education, medium to high incomes and high health literacy skills. They actively sought information from multiple sources and used a reiterative collation and assessment process. Their decision-making to take or not to take CMPs was informed by the need to establish the safety of the CMPs, as well as possible benefits or harms to their baby’s or their own health that could result from taking a CMP. Their specific information needs included the desire to access comprehensive, consistent, clear, easy to understand, and evidence-based information. Women preferred to access information from reputable sources, namely, their trusted health care practitioners, and information linked to government or hospital websites and published research. A lack of comprehensive, clear, consistent, or evidence-based information often led to decisions not to take a CMP, as they felt unable to adequately establish its safety or benefits. Conversely, when the participants felt the CMPs information they collected was good quality and from reputable sources, it reassured them of the safety of the CMP in pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. If this confirmed a clear benefit to their baby or themselves, they were more likely to decide to take a CMP. Conclusions The participants’ demographic profile confirms previous research concerning Australian women who use CMPs during pregnancy and lactation. Participants’ high health literacy skills led them to engage in a reiterative, information-seeking and analysis process fuelled by the need to find clear information before making the decision to take, or not to take, a CMP. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-019-2396-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Apart from promoting the usage of Chinese medicine among Estonians, Bürkland has argued for the integration of biomedicine and Chinese medicine. Integrative medicine denotes a coordinated and pluralistic effort to address a health problem using diverse health and medical expert systems (Harnett and Morgan-Daniel 2018), reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, and focuses on the whole person and evidencebased decisions in achieving optimal health and healing (ACIMH). In the Estonian health field, however, integrative medicine is a new and relatively unknown concept.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Not Even All Physicians Know Chinese Medicine!”: Analysing the Legitimation Strategies of Chinese Medicine in the Estonian Media

Koppel

Uibu

2020

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

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AbstractTo exemplify the legitimation processes of a pluralistic health field this article focuses on representations of Chinese medicine and its most popular spokes-person, Rene Bürkland, in the Estonian media. From 320 media texts published between 2009 and 2018 we chose 12 for close analysis with the aim of detecting specific discourses, untangling implicit meanings, and demonstrating the complexity of the rhetorical formulations used to legitimate Chinese medicine. We identified five key discourses – discourses of Bürkland’s charisma, holistic health, individual autonomy, subtle body, and integrative medicine – underpinning various legitimation strategies which aim to change the position of Chinese medicine from alternative to integrative. Our study reveals that the absence of scientific rhetoric together with key discourses has left Chinese medicine and its spokesperson without the attention of biggest critics of CAM and, therefore, has secured a positive image for Chinese medicine in the public discourse.

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Health Literacy Considerations for Users of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation

Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation

Factors influencing women’s decision-making regarding complementary medicine product use in pregnancy and lactation

“Not Even All Physicians Know Chinese Medicine!”: Analysing the Legitimation Strategies of Chinese Medicine in the Estonian Media

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