Alternative Health Practices Research Articles

Abstracts of the American Public Health Association: Special Interest Group on Alternative and Complementary Health Practices

Abstracts of the American Public Health Association: Special Interest Group on Alternative and Complementary Health Practices

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NEXT ARTICLEAbstracts of the American Public Health Association: Special Interest Group on Alternative and Complementary Health Practices

Health information provided by retail health food outlets.

Alternative health practices have become increasingly popular in recent years. Many patients visit specific complementary practitioners, while others attempt to educate themselves, trusting advice from employees at local health food stores or the Internet. Thirty-two retail health food stores were surveyed on the nature of the information provided by their staff. A research assistant visited the stores and presented as the mother of a child in whom Crohn's disease had been diagnosed. Seventy-two per cent (23 of 32) of store employees offered advice, such as to take nutritional and herbal supplements. Of the 23 stores where recommendations were made, 15 (65%) based their recommendation on a source of information. Fourteen of the 15 stores using information sources used the same reference book. This had a significant impact on the recommendations; the use of nutritional supplements was favoured. In conclusion, retail health food stores are not as inconsistent as hypothesized, although there are many variances in the types of supplements recommended for the same chronic disease.

Abscesses due to mycobacterium abscessus linked to injection of unapproved alternative medication.

An unlicensed injectable medicine sold as adrenal cortex extract (ACE*) and distributed in the alternative medicine community led to the largest outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus infections reported in the United States. Records from the implicated distributor from January 1, 1995, to August 18, 1996, were used to identify purchasers; purchasers and public health alerts were used to identify patients. Purchasers and patients were interviewed, and available medical records were reviewed. Vials of ACE* were tested for mycobacterial contamination, and the product was recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ACE* had been distributed to 148 purchasers in 30 states; 87 persons with postinjection abscesses attributable to the product were identified. Patient and vial cultures contained M. abscessus identical by enzymatic and molecular typing methods. Unusual infectious agents and alternative health practices should be considered in the diagnosis of infections that do not respond to routine treatment.

Intentionality in Transpersonal Healing: Research and Caregiver Perspectives

Intentionality, focused mental attention on another, shapes transpersonal healing. Beginning with a desire to help another person, the intentional caregiver becomes centered, using relaxation, meditation, self-induced trance, or active imagery. In this mental stillness, the healer's level of awareness is transformed to one that is open, sensitive, and keenly focused on the patient. Often perceptions of time and space are altered. An intentional goal develops and becomes more focused as the healer assesses and begins to treat. Central to ancient Shamanic healing, intentionality is now a key factor in many contemporary approaches and modalities. These include such traditional approaches as caring, being with, and presence in a therapeutic relationship and those considered alternative and complementary healing practices such as Therapeutic Touch. A clear conceptual framework of intentionality, supported by empirical data, will enhance theory development, enabling those in the helping professions to more sy...

Holistic Health Options For Women

Women have played pivotal roles in maintaining health over the millennia. Their health care practices always have been aligned with natural therapies. It is generally accepted that women use and are more open to complementary therapies than men. Yet, there are still many obstacles to address before complementary therapies gain a broader base of support, particularly among the medical community. Although research is currently in progress, definitive evidence is still lacking regarding which holistic modality (or combination of modalities) is effective for certain conditions. The public and health provider alike need to know the safety profile of each considered modality. The use and acceptance of complementary therapies are increasing exponentially with the general public. These therapies are adjuncts and not substitutes for traditional care. Nonetheless, holistic modalities are the cornerstones of health care in the future. Nurses are uniquely positioned to enhance the quality of their nursing care by improving their understanding of and beginning to incorporate more complementary healing therapies into their nursing care, regardless of their personal beliefs and values. Therefore, holistic nursing principles must be more broadly espoused by individual nurses and nurse educators so that the transpersonal/caring/healing philosophy advocated by Florence Nightingale will ripple outward from the nurse to the patient and back to the nursing profession in general.

Use of folk healing practices by HIV-infected Hispanics living in the United States.

In the absence of a medical cure for AIDS, HIV-infected individuals may seek alternative treatments that are consistent with cultural and social beliefs. This paper examines beliefs about, and use of, folk healing practices by HIV-infected Hispanics receiving care at an HIV/AIDS clinic in inner-city New Jersey. Anonymous individual interviews were conducted with 58 male and 18 female HIV-infected Hispanics aged 23-55, primarily of Puerto Rican origin (61%) or descent (29%). The majority of respondents believed in good and evil spirits (73.7%); among the 56 believers, 48% stated that the spirits had a causal role in their infection, either alone or in conjunction with the AIDS virus. Two thirds of the respondents engaged in folk healing (spiritualism and/or santeria). The main desired outcomes of folk healing included physical relief (44%), spiritual relief (40%), and protection from evil (26%). A number of respondents (n = 9) stated that they hoped to effect a cure by engaging in folk healing. These results indicate that health care professionals treating HIV-positive Hispanics should be aware of the prevalence of folk beliefs and alternative healing practices in this population.

Racism, health, and post-industrialism: a theory of African-American health

Introduction Emancipation of the Roots of Health Race and Culture Contact and the Equilibrium of Health Antebellum Life and Health The Challenges of Post-Slavery Rural and Urban Life Folk, Popular, and Alternative Health Practices An Extended Look at Alternative African-American Health Practices Racism, the Medical-Industrial Complex, and Post Industrialism Contemporary Challenges to Health: Toward a Wholistic Theory Strategies for Change: Community Action and Public Policy Selected Bibliography Index

Introducing alternative/complementary healing to allopathic medical students.

We have designed a senior elective, Introduction to Alternative Medicine, to prepare our students better to practice in multicultural environments, and to expand their views of health and healing. We combined didactic lecture, films, first-hand experience with some methods, and observation of alternative practitioners in their offices/clinics. Students explored hypnosis, chiropractic, therapeutic touch, meditation, biofeedback, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, and massage therapy. Discussions of scientific efficacy, legal and ethical considerations, and the role of spirituality in health and healing focused on limitations of science-based approaches and reasons why alternative/complementary methods are popular with patients and allopathic physicians. We conclude that allopathic medical schools have an important role in reducing the isolation of their students from alternative health beliefs, practices, and systems of care that are common in our communities.

Relationships between the use of alternative medicine and health practices and its backgrounds

Relationships between the use of alternative medicine and health practices and its backgrounds

Ritual healing in suburban America

One of the more provocative studies of why middle America is making increasing use of ritual healing and what that choice tells us of problems with biomedical care in technological institutions...A welcome addition to anthropological studies of ritual healing in other societies, and it illuminates a huge component of our health care system that is poorly understood.--Arthur Kleinman, M.D., Harvard University An all too rare volume, namely a scholarly work on the practice of healing in suburban or what we might call middle-class America. McGuire, perhaps uniquely, has set out the religious or 'ritual' healing beliefs and practices that are usually strictly segregated and kept apart...Anyone who takes seriously the need to understand 'healing' ...should obtain this book.--Health and Healing The power of the book is in the larger cultural analysis it offers ...a valuable contribution to medical sociology.--Sociological Analysis This welcome study of nonmedical healing among upper-middle-class and middle-class persons in Essex County, New Jersey, clearly shows how individuals become attracted to and influenced by alternative healing techniques. --Choice Develops an innovative sociological approach to the study of alternative healing practices through a methodologically sound qualitative study...The high quality of research and conceptualization and the meticulous documentation of the relevant literature make [this book] essential reading for those interested in the sociology and anthropology of religion and of medicine, and in the study of health and illness in contemporary America.--Contemporary Sociology A major contribution.--The Christian Century The remarkable strength of this book about the exotic in the commonplace is that it demonstrates both that ritual healing is widespread in the heartland of medical technology, and that the wide variety of ritual healing practices are based on similar structures.--Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry Meredith B. McGuire is professor of sociology at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, and the author of Pentecostal Catholics and other books. Debra Kantor is acting director of education and training for the New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center.

Pluralism, parallel medical practices and the question of tension: the Philippines experience

Pluralism and the co-existence of a variety of different medical systems within a chosen context are common features in various settings. How do the different systems or practices interact? Is it plausible to develop an integrated health system (combining both biomedical and alternative medicines) within the national system in a medically pluralist society? This study was set in the urban slum of Balubad, located in Marikina city, The Philippines. It employed qualitative research methods, including individual interviews with a semi-structured questionnaire, and informal discussions. Two categories of respondent were selected by systematic and purposive sampling, and included community female and male respondents and practitioners of different healing systems. I found three significant trends: firstly, biomedical and alternative health practices exist in parallel but are not mixed. Secondly, there is little possibility of biomedical and alternative health professionals working together; they prefer to stay separate. Finally, although there is enormous socio-economic disparity between biomedical professionals and alternative healers, there is no tension between the two groups.