Frequency, types, and factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine use among patients on maintenance haemodialysis

Mambap, Alex Tatang; Ukum, Gwendoline Enda; Teuwafeu, Denis; Mahamat, Maimouna; Ashuntantang, Gloria

doi:10.1186/s12906-022-03815-7

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 31 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…Most of the earlier studies on CT disclosure focused on speci c diseases or patient groups, such as older adults (14,50), cancer (11,16,(51)(52)(53), cardiovascular diseases (8), different treatment situations, for example, haemodialysis (54). Out of eighty-six studies included in the systematic review(3) seventy-nine provided quantitative data, three qualitative data (12,50,55) and four mixed-methods data(56-59) relevant to CT disclosure rates or reasons for disclosure/nondisclosure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Varieties of silence – A mixed-methods study exploring reasons and justifications for nondisclosure of the use of complementary therapies to physicians

Aarva,

Väänänen,

Pyykkönen

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background In health care, two in three users of complementary therapies (CT) stay silent about their CT use. Disclosure of CT use to physicians is important for patient safety, participation, and shared decision-making. Common reasons for CT nondisclosure include patients´ expectations of physicians' unaccepting response to disclosure, physicians not asking, and patients believing it is unnecessary. This study aimed to increase understanding of patient silence. We investigated how the reasons for nondisclosure of CT use reported by CT users were associated with the frequency of CT disclosure and how these associations and reported justifications to keep silent reflect patient silence among the study participants. Methods This mixed-methods study used existing data from the non-probability-based online survey (n = 6802) targeted to CT users among the general population in Finland. A qualitative structured tabular thematic analysis was conducted for the selected 342 brief texts describing the reasons and justification for not telling physicians about CT use. The associations between the frequency of CT disclosure and the reasons for CT nondisclosure were analysed by crosstabulations and binary logistic regression analysis with SPSS (v28). Results Three types of patient silence were revealed. Avoidant silence illustrates the respondents coping with the fear of unwanted response from a physician and avoiding the expected negative consequences of CT disclosure. Precautionary silence exemplifies respondents striving to prevent the reoccurrence of previously experienced frustration of wishes to be seen and heard as CT users. Conditional silence portrays the self-confidence of respondents who assessed their need to disclose CT use to physicians on a case-by-case basis. Conclusions Silence, for some patients, may serve as a way of warding off past and possible future fears and frustrations related to CT disclosure. It is important to recognise different types of patient silence related to CT disclosure to enhance patient participation and shared decision-making in health care. Efforts are needed to provide health policy decision-makers with information about CT users’ lived experiences with CT communication in health care.

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