Why do cancer patients use Chinese medicine? A qualitative interview study in China
Why do cancer patients use Chinese medicine? A qualitative interview study in China
Objectives: To describe the reasons why cancer patients use Chinese medicine (CM) in terms of their expectations, knowledge, attitudes and barriers. To generate an understanding of the interrelationships between these factors which could explain the cancer patient's healthcare seeking behavior.
Method: Twenty-six in-depth interviews and one focus group were carried out in oncology wards in Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Twenty-three cancer patients participated in an in-depth interview and a focus group after providing informed consent. Interviews and focus group were tape recorded, transcribed. Atlas.ti6.0 was employed and thematic analysis was used to code and theme the information.
Results: A total of 249 codes were identified, which resulted in three main themes: (1) Better outcome - most of participants reported that they believed that they would have a better outcome by using CM treatment. (2) Safe and cheap - CM appeared not to have major side effects and so could be used in the long term and CM remedies cost less. (3) Understandings of CM - Chinese people understand about CM due to its long cultural and historical context and this affected their attitude positively. They trusted CM and used it based on their understandings.
Conclusions: Chinese cancer patients expected CM to improve their quality of life and contribute to achieving a better overall outcome. It is safe and relative cheap to use in the long term. Chinese patients appear to trust CM because of its cultural and historical context. More qualitative research is needed to further assess the role of CM in China.
chinese medicine, cancer care, qualitative research
Yu, He
79ec5223-2fd9-4013-b426-b36b81ef9d45
Wang, Sicheng
18dca83c-a184-4d3e-8568-20b82ee3ba6d
Liu, Jianping
4699004b-2872-49f2-b2f9-f90a061a29db
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Yu, He
79ec5223-2fd9-4013-b426-b36b81ef9d45
Wang, Sicheng
18dca83c-a184-4d3e-8568-20b82ee3ba6d
Liu, Jianping
4699004b-2872-49f2-b2f9-f90a061a29db
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Yu, He, Wang, Sicheng, Liu, Jianping and Lewith, George
(2012)
Why do cancer patients use Chinese medicine? A qualitative interview study in China.
European Journal of Integrative Medicine.
(doi:10.1016/j.eujim.2012.02.007).
Abstract
Objectives: To describe the reasons why cancer patients use Chinese medicine (CM) in terms of their expectations, knowledge, attitudes and barriers. To generate an understanding of the interrelationships between these factors which could explain the cancer patient's healthcare seeking behavior.
Method: Twenty-six in-depth interviews and one focus group were carried out in oncology wards in Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Twenty-three cancer patients participated in an in-depth interview and a focus group after providing informed consent. Interviews and focus group were tape recorded, transcribed. Atlas.ti6.0 was employed and thematic analysis was used to code and theme the information.
Results: A total of 249 codes were identified, which resulted in three main themes: (1) Better outcome - most of participants reported that they believed that they would have a better outcome by using CM treatment. (2) Safe and cheap - CM appeared not to have major side effects and so could be used in the long term and CM remedies cost less. (3) Understandings of CM - Chinese people understand about CM due to its long cultural and historical context and this affected their attitude positively. They trusted CM and used it based on their understandings.
Conclusions: Chinese cancer patients expected CM to improve their quality of life and contribute to achieving a better overall outcome. It is safe and relative cheap to use in the long term. Chinese patients appear to trust CM because of its cultural and historical context. More qualitative research is needed to further assess the role of CM in China.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 14 March 2012
Keywords:
chinese medicine, cancer care, qualitative research
Organisations:
Primary Care & Population Sciences
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 338192
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/338192
ISSN: 1876-3820
PURE UUID: 30f80872-a67b-4939-b15d-8d8c7347f9b4
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Date deposited: 11 May 2012 12:03
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:02
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Contributors
Author:
He Yu
Author:
Sicheng Wang
Author:
Jianping Liu
Author:
George Lewith
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