CIH (Complementary and Integrative Healthcare): Integrative Healthcare

Abstract

Complementary–integrative health (CIH) refers primarily to the mixture of allopathic medicine with one or more complementary modalities originating from traditional practices and/or other cultural systems of medicine. An essential aspect of CIH is an emphasis on a holistic understanding of health. While CIH trends are global, there are many variations. This entry is concerned with the transformation over the past 25 years of complementary–alternative medicine, relegated to the social margins, to complementary–integrative health, institutionalized within mainstream organizations and social understanding. Health communication research conducted in the United States and elsewhere has examined these changes through analyses of language, integrative organizational functions and challenges, and external forms of resistance.