Reasons for complementary therapy use by cancer patients, information sources and communication with health professionals

•Cancer patients are known to use commonly complementary therapies.•Patients expect physicians and nurses to initiate communication on this subject.•Counseling about CT is essential for improving patient safety and patient outcomes. Cancer patients are known to commonly use complementary therapies (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Complementary therapies in medicine 2019-06, Vol.44, p.157-161
Main Authors: Arıkan, Fatma, Uçar, Mürvet Artuk, Kondak, Yasemin, Tekeli, Aysel, Kartöz, Funda, Özcan, Keziban, Göksu, Sema Sezgin, Coşkun, Hasan Şenol
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cancer
Cancer patients
Cancer therapies
Chemotherapy
Communication
Complementary therapies
Complementary Therapies - statistics & numerical data
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dietary minerals
Female
Health
Health behavior
Health care
Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Health professionals
Humans
Information resources
Information sources
Male
Massage
Medical Oncology - statistics & numerical data
Medical personnel
Medical treatment
Meditation
Middle Aged
Natural products
Neoplasms - therapy
Nurse patient relationships
Nurses
Oncology
Patient education
Patients
Physician patient relationships
Physicians
Physicians - statistics & numerical data
Probiotics
Radiation therapy
Surveys and Questionnaires
Therapy
Vitamins
Yoga
Young Adult
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Summary:•Cancer patients are known to use commonly complementary therapies.•Patients expect physicians and nurses to initiate communication on this subject.•Counseling about CT is essential for improving patient safety and patient outcomes. Cancer patients are known to commonly use complementary therapies (CT). However, it is emphasized that patients do not share sufficient information with health professionals about this subject and that the subject is ignored in oncology practice. The aim of the study is to assess cancer patients’ reasons for using complementary therapy, information resources and communication with health professionals. The study is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. In this study, a questionnaire was used by the researchers. A questionnaire form consisting of 3 parts was used. In the first part of this form, there were questions about the gender, age and educational status of the patients (8 questions). In the second part, there were questions about disease and treatment information (3 questions), and the third part had questions about the use of complementary therapies (9 questions). To determine the use of complementary therapy, patients were asked ‘Do you currently use complementary treatment?’ (Yes or No). 183 patients included in the study completed the questionnaire about complementary therapies. In this study, it was determined that 37.7% of the patients were using complementary therapies. The most commonly used complementary therapy was natural products (46.4%). The most common reason for using complementary therapy was to provide support for treatment. Almost half of the cancer patients (48.5%) did not talk about this issue with their physicians, and 41.1% of them did not talk about CT with their nurses. The study found that the most important reason why the patients did not talk about CT was that they were not asked about it by health professionals. This study determined that almost half of patients could not receive information about CT from health professionals. Patients expect physicians and nurses to initiate communication on this subject. Providing healthcare professionals with evidence-based counseling about CT is essential for improving patient safety and patient outcomes.
ISSN:0965-2299
1873-6963
DOI:10.1016/j.ctim.2019.03.017