Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing
Open Access

Abstract

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) had long existed in the human history as long as we can imagine. The prevalence of CAM may be different between western and eastern countries. CAM is widely utilized by healthy people, people with diseases and people with cancer. Many studies have done in these areas. However, family’s perspectives are not explored in much depth. Therefore, this study aims to explore family’s points of view to people with cancer who use CAM. This study adopted a qualitative research design based on grounded theory. A semi-structured, in-depth interview was conducted. Five categories emerge regarding family of cancer patients’ views to people with cancer who use CAM. The process include: The purposes of using CAM, patients and family use of CAM, using CAM actions, religious practice for cancer patients, family caregivers’ roles. Core category: He/she is comfortable-most important. The recommendation for this study is family’s responses and actions to people with cancer who use CAM should be known by health care professionals (HCPs). The information of using CAM should be known when patients admit to the hospital. For future research, it is recommended to explore what CAM that the patients actually use. In addition, it is worthwhile to establish the evidence base for CAM which works for the cancer patients in Taiwan.

Biography

Shou Yu (Cindy) Wang is from Taiwan. She is interested in supportive care (especially in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) use) and palliative care in cancer. Now, she is an assistant professor at Department of Nursing Hungkuang University in Taiwan.

E-mail: cindyla_tw@yahoo.com