Abstract
BackgroundComplementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use - of which naturopathy constitutes a significant proportion - accounts for approximately half of all health consultations and half of out-of-pocket expenditure in Australia. Data also suggest CAM use is highest amongst rural Australians. Unfortunately little is known about the grass-roots reality of naturopathy or other CAM use in rural regions.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 naturopaths practising in the Darling Downs region of South-East Queensland to assess their perceptions and experiences of rural patients and demand for their services.ResultsNaturopaths described strong demand in rural areas for their services and perceived much of this demand as attributable to cultural traits in rural communities that served as pull factors for their naturopathic services. Such perceived traits included a cultural affinity for holistic approaches to health and disease and the preventive philosophy of naturopathy and an appreciation of the core tenet of naturopathic practice to develop closer therapeutic relationships. However, cost and a rural culture of self-reliance were seen as major barriers to naturopathic practice in rural areas.ConclusionsDemand for naturopathic services in rural areas may have strong underlying cultural and social drivers. Given the apparent affinity for and increasingly large role played by CAM services, including naturopathic medicine, in rural areas it is imperative that naturopathic medicine and the CAM sector more broadly become a core focus of rural health research.
Highlights
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use - of which naturopathy constitutes a significant proportion - accounts for approximately half of all health consultations and half of out-of-pocket expenditure in Australia
Data from Western Australia suggest that more than half of all health consults in the rural South-West region of the state are with CAM practitioners [2]
High CAM use has been identified in other rural areas throughout Australia [3,4,5,6,7]
Summary
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use - of which naturopathy constitutes a significant proportion - accounts for approximately half of all health consultations and half of out-of-pocket expenditure in Australia. CAM use has emerged as a significant public health issue [21] and there is a need to examine and understand its role in rural health care delivery in order to aid effective, coordinated care and to inform evidence-based health policy [18]. This need is made ever more urgent and significant when considered alongside a number of challenges facing contemporary rural health care delivery and provision in Australia and elsewhere: the uneven distribution and relative shortage of medical care providers ( general practitioners and allied health professionals) in rural areas [22,23]; and the closely associated problems of recruitment and retention of primary care practitioners to the rural workforce [24,25,26]. The largely unexamined (at least in terms of official health policy and research) network of CAM and CAM practitioners, such as naturopaths, may currently fill service gaps and provide essential support to rural patients [27,28]
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