Complementary and alternative medicine for pain management in U.S.- And foreign-born Chinese women with breast cancer

Evaon Wong-Kim, Joseph R. Merighi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study explores beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for pain management among 15 U.S.-born and 15 foreign-born Chinese women with breast cancer. For this investigation, trilingual interviewers conducted individual, face-to-face, qualitative interviews in Cantonese, Mandarin, or English. All study participants lived in San Francisco, and the foreign-born women had resided in the U.S. for 15 years or fewer. Findings indicate that many participants consider CAM a viable method of pain management. However, concerns about affordability and quality of treatment prevent some women from using CAM on a regular basis. Many participants indicated that Western health care providers are poorly equipped to provide CAM to manage the pain resulting from breast cancer treatment. Future research should explore how access to CAM can be improved for poor and uninsured patients with cancer and how alternative approaches to pain management can be integrated more broadly in the U.S. health care system.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)118-129
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of health care for the poor and underserved
Volume18
Issue number4 SUPPL.
StatePublished - Nov 1 2007

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Chinese
  • Complementary and alternative medicine
  • Pain
  • Qualitative research

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