“It keeps me going” – older people's perception of well-being and use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Authors:
LORENC Ava, et al
Journal article citation:
Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 13(2), 2012, pp.135-144.
Publisher:
Emerald

Significant proportions of older people appear to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Common CAM treatments used by older adults include nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, spiritual healing, and chiropractic. The aim of this paper was to explore older peoples' decision making regarding CAM use and their perceptions and experiences of well-being. Qualitative focus groups were held at a community centre in southwest London with 37 volunteers aged over 61 years. Transcripts of the discussions were content analysed. Five themes emerged from the participants’ discussions of well-being: physical well-being; impact on activity; emotional issues; community and health services; and keeping positive. A range of CAM was used, most commonly mind/body or physical therapies. The main reason for CAM use was to ‘keep going’ and maintain well-being. ‘Keeping going’ is often promoted by CAM, including manipulative and exercise therapies. Conventional medicine was perceived as central to well-being, with CAM used to address its limitations. Decision making was rarely systematic; anecdotal information dominated, and disclosure to conventional practitioners was uncommon. Healthcare providers should consider exploring CAM use with older people and facilitating access to CAM information.

Subject terms:
older people, self care, complementary therapies, decision making;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
England
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
2042-8766
ISSN print:
1471-7794

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