Complementary therapy use in metropolitan and regional Australian radiotherapy centres; do patients report effective outcomes?

Darren Hunter, Christopher Marinakis, Ruth Salisbury, Alison Cray,Richard Oates

Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer(2015)

Cited 15|Views2
No score
Abstract
Purpose Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly used with radiotherapy treatment for cancer. This study aimed to explore patient expectations of concurrent CAM, positive/negative outcomes and any variation of use across regional and metropolitan demographics. Methods An ethics-approved survey was provided to radiotherapy outpatients in regional and metropolitan Victoria, Australia. The survey enquired about demographical details, CAM uptake, perceived benefits/effects, source of CAM information and disclosure of use. Results Two hundred sixty-five patients were recruited across both sites. Patients reporting concurrent CAM use were 45 % (regional site, April–August 2012) and 47 % (metropolitan site, January–May 2013). More patients at the regional centre reported living away from home during treatment (35 vs 8 %) though this did not impact upon CAM uptake. For both sites, 60 % of CAM users felt they had been provided with sufficient CAM information with family/friends the most common source. The highest reported rationale for CAM use was the patient’s choice (61 and 52 %). Only 19 % of patients at either site claimed the recommendation of a doctor was the reason for CAM use. ‘Improving immune system’ was the most common expectation of CAM at both sites (39 and 50 %). More than half of CAM users felt that it was effective (51 and 54 %). Conclusions CAM use across regional and metropolitan Australia is equivalent, constitutes a substantial proportion of radiotherapy outpatients and is largely considered effective by CAM users. Healthcare professionals need to improve knowledge, communication, reporting and awareness of concurrent CAM in radiotherapy practice.
More
Translated text
Key words
Alternative medicine,Australia,Complementary therapies,Radiation oncology,Radiotherapy
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined