Abstract

In this cross-sectional, retrospective, explanatory secondary analysis of the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, complementary and alternative modality (CAM) use and high-risk CAM use by women with female-specific cancers is described. Review of CAM literature was employed to compare CAM use by these women to other groups. Based on a purposive sample of 689 women in the United States with female-specific cancers, this sample is representative of 4,128,720 women. Of these, 3,341,373 (80.9%) used CAM therapies. There were 1,030,941 women (25%) who used high risk CAM therapies, such as herbs and megavitamins, which may interact negatively with Western biomedical treatments.

Personal factors associated with those who used CAM include presence of pain and depression/anxiety. Personal factors associated with those who used high-risk CAM include younger age, more comorbidities, presence of pain, being married, higher education, lower income, and being Non-Hispanic ethnicity of races other than Black or White. Having two or more types of female-specific cancers was associated with the use of alternative medical systems.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3280286; ProQuest document ID: 304739415. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Valerie S. Eschiti, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, CHTP, CTN-A

Sigma Membership

Beta Delta at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Cross-Sectional

Research Approach

Secondary Analysis

Keywords:

Female-Specific Cancers, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Women, High-Risk Treatment

Advisor

Patti Hamilton

Second Advisor

Gail Davis

Third Advisor

Kristin Wiginton

Fourth Advisor

Susan McBride

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Texas Woman's University

Degree Year

2007

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2021-11-29

Full Text of Presentation

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