“If I'm a naturopath, It's because I trust nature above everything else”: Canadian naturopaths' construction of vaccination as a risk object

Abstract

Canadians and Quebecers increasingly consult complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners in parallel with biomedical providers. The close relationship between vaccine hesitancy and CAM use remains under explored in Western countries. We present the results of a qualitative study conducted among one of Quebec's most used CAM approaches: naturopathy. Using Boholm and Corvellec's relational theory of risk to illustrate naturopaths' construction of vaccination as an “object of risk”, we describe how the health representations of 30 Quebec naturopath interviewees are associated with the ways they perceived the risks of infectious diseases and vaccination. Our findings illustrate how Quebec naturopaths' view the body as “at risk” from the possible harmful effects of vaccines. For these naturopaths, the body is a site, a “terrain”, where homeostasis must continually be preserved, and needs to be protected from risks such as vaccines—which were seen as far riskier than infectious diseases—through natural means. Such views are often perceived as unscientific or even irrational by public health researchers. Our study highlights that naturopaths' attitudes towards vaccination are perfectly aligned with the epistemological tenets of their risk representations and conceptions of health.