Why Consumers Maintain Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use: A Qualitative Study

Item development for a questionnaire investigating patient self reported perception, satisfaction and outcomes of a single osteopathy in the cranial field (OCF) treatment

“…Therefore it is prudent that the patient's beliefs about OCF and their experiences during and after treatment are explored. 26,27 Previous studies have demonstrated that patient satisfaction is an important and measurable outcome of treatment. 28,29 .…”

Relaxation Response–Based Yoga Improves Functioning in Young Children with Autism: A Pilot Study

“…[1][2][3] Such treatments appeal to patients both for ''push'' factors (dissatisfaction with traditional approaches, such as the side-effect burden of medications 4 ) as well as ''pull factors'' (an increased sense of agency that patients feel with nontraditional approaches). 5 As recently reviewed, 6,7 there is limited evidence to evaluate such treatments for children with ASD, but insufficient evidence exists to rule out their potential benefit in most cases. 6,7 Movement therapies, such as yoga, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] have shown some promise for treating behavioral problems, though most of these studies have not examined patients with ASD.…”

“Talk to them”: Teaching communication skills to students of Traditional Chinese Medicine

“…[7] People seek assistance from CAM for a range of reasons and notably when they feel conventional medicine fails to be of help [8] and when they are dissatisfied with their interaction experiences with conventional health care providers. [7,[9][10][11] A desire for more personal control over their own health has been cited as another motivation for patients seeking CAM, with CAM practitioners perceived by patients as adopting a more individualised and holistic approach to care in partnership with their clients. [3,7,[11][12][13][14] A recent study [14] indicates that CAM users evaluate their healthcare experience using the criteria of the quality of care, an empowering partnership, treatment efficiency, customisation of treatment and the physical environment of service delivery.…”

“…[11] Consumers further claim that CAM practitioners have a greater knowledge of how nutritional, emotional and lifestyle factors affect health and that CAM is effective in improving wellbeing. [9,36] Michlig, Ausfeld-Hafter [37] found, in a comparative study, that patient satisfaction related to communication and relationship measures was higher for TCM patients than those receiving conventional medical care.…”

“…Further, patients with chronic illness may not be seeking a cure from TCM, but rather are seeking psychological support and they perceive this to be more readily found in complementary medicine. [9,11,37] There is evidence that training health care professions in the requisite communication skills is necessary to enable them to provide patient-centred care [38][39][40] and there is an abundance of literature on the positive effects of communication on the outcomes of health care. There is little data available, however, on how this could be addressed and sustained in health professionals education programs, and how receptive students are to it.…”