Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons^™

Empowering Low-Income Women With Breast Cancer: Promoting Acupuncture At Community Health Fairs, Katrina Ramos

Nursing | Senior Theses

While research has explored the positive effects of acupuncture on cancer and cancer treatment symptoms, a notable gap exists in understanding its impact on lower-income populations. These individuals encounter barriers to accessing acupuncture, such as limited availability, cost, and provider knowledge. This longitudinal study aims to assess the impact of community health fairs, featuring acupuncture information for breast cancer and chemotherapy-induced symptoms, on the acceptance and utilization rates of acupuncture among low-income women with breast cancer. Collaborating with the Women’s Cancer Resource Center and a local non-profit integrative cancer care clinic in Oakland, we will conduct a three-day health fair …

Empowering Low-Income Women With Breast Cancer: Promoting Acupuncture At Community Health Fairs, Katrina Ramos

Nursing | Student Research Posters

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Efficacy Of Herbal & Medicinal Plants Native To China And Thailand As A Complementary & Alternative Treatment In Mitigating Mild-To-Moderate Covid-19 Symptoms, Jiramanee Apiwansri

Nursing | Senior Theses

Background

In December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of an outbreak of an unknown cause of pneumonia-like symptoms in residents concentrated in Wuhan, China; this marked the start of China’s epidemic, which transformed into a pandemic affecting all continents of the world. The cause of the pneumonia-like symptoms was found to be due to the growth and development of the virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which spreads through an infected person’s respiratory droplets through activities such as talking, coughing, and sneezing. With COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers available worldwide, even the economically and technologically forward countries …

Factors Influencing Nurses’ Willingness To Recommend Reiki For Their Oncology Patients’ Pain, Amy Nezzer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hospitalized, adult, oncology patients experience intractable pain that does not always respond to pharmacological therapies. Reiki is a complementary and alternative method used to reduce pain and increase the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments, but nurses may not possess knowledge about Reiki or have the self-efficacy to educate patients about Reiki. The purpose of this study, guided by Bandura’s social cognitive theory, was to identify the relationship between nurses’ knowledge, level of self-efficacy in educating their patients, beliefs about Reiki’s effectiveness, years practicing as a nurse, and willingness to recommend Reiki for their oncology patients’ pain. The Knowledge of Nurses’ Questionnaire …

The Emergence Of The Legitimacy Of Religious Healing Knowledge In Taiwan, Wei-Cheng Chiu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how religious healing knowledge has been defined and used by scholars, physicians, and New Agers and how religious healing knowledge emerged as a legitimate area of knowledge in Taiwan. The key position of religious healing knowledge within the entanglement between religion and spirituality is also examined. After the martial law was lifted in 1987, Taiwan’s society had rapidly diversified, and its religions were at the transition point between the old and the new. Meanwhile, the new spirituality culture was introduced into Taiwan in the 1980s and got popular in the 1990s, and it inherited the trend of …

The Relationship Between Frequency Of Yoga And Meditation On Ptsd Symptoms In Individuals Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence, Kimberly Polignani

Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has become a growing phenomenon in the United States,

affecting nearly 13% of the population. The adverse mental health outcomes from people who experience IPV are prevalent and more than half have a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therefore, therapeutic techniques for PTSD appear to be feasible for IPV survivors and their mental health issues. Complementary and alternative medicine has become a widely accepted approach for PTSD. Being two complementary and alternative medicine techniques, yoga and meditation are effective forms of therapy in many diagnoses, including PTSD. This study utilized a not-for-profit organization called the …

The Effects Of A Yoga Intervention On Reactive Balance In Older Adults, Haley M. Hayes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Research into successful aging has shown that the ability to control balance is a key part of maintaining an independent lifestyle. Given the increased proportion of older adults in society, the development of effective strategies to promote successful aging are critical. One promising form of activity that could effectively sustain and/or improve balance in addition to other health markers is yoga. Although studies have been done showing yoga's benefits on mobility, mood and cognition the vast majority of these studies lack scientific rigor. The main purpose of this thesis project was to examine the efficacy of a 6-week yoga intervention …

Exploring Unmet Healthcare Needs, Healthcare Access, And The Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine By Chronic Pain Sufferers- An Analysis Of The National Population Health Survey, Jessica Lachance

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Chronic pain is a condition nurses encounter in their practice often; estimated to affect 1 in 5 Canadian adults, resulting in significant disability, a deleterious impact on health and quality of life, and a large financial and operational burden on the health care system. It is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon that despite research efforts remains poorly understood. Consequently, the focus of chronic pain treatment targets the managementof pain to improve quality of life and reduce suffering as much as possible, rather than a curative approach. Chronic pain has been recognized as one of the most pervasive and …

Social Learning Biases In The Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Marie Denell Letourneau

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (usually referred to as CAM) has increased dramatically over the last three decades. However, theoretically informed explanations about why people decide to use CAM therapies are lacking. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is enough statistical evidence to justify additional research on the relationship between social learning and the decision to use CAM. Working on the assumption that people make decisions based on information they have or can obtain, I applied the concept of learning bias in order to examine the ways in which people …

Health As An Individualized Project: Gender Bio-Authenticity And Responsibilization Governance In Functional Medicine, Emma E. Radich

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Prevalence And Predictors Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Use Among Lebanese College Students, Lama Jizi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Lebanon, estimates of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) use among college students are not available. CAM practices are not well regulated and some products contain unsafe substances. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and predictors of CAM use among Lebanese college students using the health belief model. A quantitative cross sectional research design was used. An online survey was administered to 126 Lebanese college students with the aim of determining the most important predictors of CAM use. A majority (89%) of surveyed students reported the use of CAM in the last 12 months. Based on …

Exploring The Use Of Cam And Its Influence On The Spiritual Lives Of Christian Religious Professionals, Jennifer L. Collins, Cynthia J. Sampers

Master of Arts in Holistic Health Studies Research Papers

Religion and the Church; medicine and healing. Interconnected before the time of Descartes, these integral domains have experienced significant change in recent decades as people have become disillusioned with conventional biomedicine and institutional Christianity. More people are seeking holistic forms of healing—perhaps once again reuniting body, mind, and spirit, as a bone resetting from a centuries-old fracture or dislocation. The purpose of this research is to explore the use of Eastern and energy-based forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by Christian religious professionals. Based on a qualitative culture of inquiry, we conducted 10 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with individual clergy …

2nd Place Contest Entry: Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In A Veteran Population: Efficacy Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Therapies, Brooke D. Snelgrove

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Brooke Snelgrove's submission for the 2014-2015 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won second place. She wrote about the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans with Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies. You can read the final essay that came out of her research here.

Differences In Referral And Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Between Pediatric Providers And Patients, Brooke N. Jenkins, Nicole Vincent, Michelle Fortier

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives

The goal of this study was to compare pediatric complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and pediatric health care provider CAM referral as well as identify predictors of use and referral.

Design

Surveys were administered to 283 parents/caregivers of pediatric patients and 200 pediatric health care providers (HCP).

Setting

This study took place at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC Children's) in Orange, CA.

Main outcome measures

Caregivers and HCP were provided a list of 32 CAM interventions and asked to indicate which treatments their child had ever used or which they would consider using for their child …

Toward Enhancing Treatment For Pregnant Smokers: Laying The Groundwork For The Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Approaches, Amy Michele Loree

Wayne State University Dissertations

Tobacco is the most widely used drug of abuse during pregnancy. Despite efforts to reduce perinatal tobacco use, its prevalence has remained steady over at least the past decade, suggesting that efforts to reduce smoking prevalence before and during pregnancy have not been effective. Although a range of effective treatments exist, most pregnant smokers neither seek nor receive any kind of treatment. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments may be ideal as alternative, low-cost approaches capable of reaching and assisting a greater proportion of pregnant women with smoking cessation. This study examined characteristics and treatment utilization practices of pregnant smokers …

The Effects Of Yoga Participation On Symptoms Associated With Menopause: A Mixed Methods Study, Brandi Crowe

All Dissertations

During midlife, it is expected that women will progress towards the biological state of menopause; the permanent condition of infertility due to alterations or diminution of reproductive hormones. Typically lasting 5-10 years, the menopausal transition is associated with symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, interrupted sleep, anxiety, forgetfulness, and inconsistent mood. As these symptoms often hinder a women's successful functioning in everyday life, hormone therapy is commonly prescribed as a means for diminishing symptoms. However, many women are seeking alternative/complementary treatments that can assist in managing menopausal symptoms due to the detrimental health-risks associated with the use of conventional therapies. …

Cam Use Among Overweight And Obese Persons With Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis, Kate L. Lapane, Shibing Yang, Rachel Jawahar, Timothy Mcalindon, Charles B. Eaton

Family Medicine and Population Health Publications

Background

Obesity is associated with knee pain and is an independent predictor of incident knee osteoarthritis (OA); increased pain with movement often leads patients to adopt sedentary lifestyles to avoid pain. Detailed descriptions of pain management strategies by body mass index (BMI) level among OA patients are lacking. The objectives were to describe complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and conventional medication use by BMI level and identify correlates of CAM use by BMI level.

Methods

Using Osteoarthritis Initiative baseline data, 2,675 patients with radiographic tibiofemoral OA in at least one knee were identified. Use of CAM therapies and conventional medications …

Effects Of Reiki, Yoga, Or Meditation On The Physical And Psychological Symptoms Of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Randomized Pilot Study, Paul G. Clark, Geronima Cortese-Jimenez, Eric Cohen

Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Faculty Research and Scholarship

Three complementary approaches for managing physical and psychological symptoms related to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy were evaluated against an education-only control arm. This study included 26 participants who were randomly assigned to weekly, hour-long sessions of yoga, Reiki, meditation, or an educational control experience for 6 weeks. Each participant completed pre–post measures of neurotoxicity, quality of life, psychological distress, and mindfulness. Descriptive analysis of the data indicated that all experimental group participants demonstrated improved within-group scores on quality of life and neurotoxicity outcomes following intervention; however, the improvements were not statistically significant. Neurotoxicity worsened significantly in the control group, but there …

Racial Differences In Symptom Management Approaches Among Persons With Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis, Shibing Yang, Rachel Jawahar, Timothy Mcalindon, Charles B. Eaton, Kate L. Lapane

Family Medicine and Population Health Publications

Background

The extent to which racial differences exist in use of treatments for osteoarthritis (OA) is debatable. The purpose of this study was to describe the differences between African Americans (AA) and Caucasian Americans (CA) in using treatment approaches to manage symptoms among individuals with radiographic-confirmed knee OA.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted. Using data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, we identified 508 AA and 2,075 CA with radiographic tibiofemoral OA in at least one knee. Trained interviewers asked questions relating to current OA treatments including seven CAM therapy categories—alternative medical systems, mind-body interventions, manipulation and body-based methods, energy therapies, …

Methodological Implications Of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Models For Whole Systems Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Iris R. Bell, Mary Koithan, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This paper focuses on the worldview hypotheses and research design approaches from nonlinear dynamical complex systems (NDS) science that can inform future studies of whole systems of complementary and alternative medicine (WS-CAM), e.g., Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and homeopathy. The worldview hypotheses that underlie NDS and WS-CAM (contextual, organismic, interactive-integrative - Pepper, 1942) overlap with each other, but differ fundamentally from those of biomedicine (formistic, mechanistic). Differing views on the nature of causality itself lead to different types of study designs. Biomedical efficacy studies assume a simple direct mechanistic cause-effect relationship between a specific intervention and a specific bodily outcome, …

Self-Organizing Biopsychosocial Dynamics And The Patient-Healer Relationship, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The patient-healer relationship has an increasing area of interest for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) researchers. This focus on the interpersonal context of treatment is not surprising as dismantling studies, clinical trials and other linear research designs continually point toward the critical role of context and the broadband biopsychosocial nature of therapeutic responses to CAM. Unfortunately, the same traditional research models and methods that fail to find simple and specific treatment-outcome relations are similarly failing to find simple and specific mechanisms to explain how interpersonal processes influence patient outcomes. This paper presents an overview of some of the key models …

A Complex Systems Science Perspective For Whole Systems Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Research, Mary Koithan, Iris R. Bell, Kathryn Niemeyer, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Whole systems complementary and alternative medicine (WS-CAM) approaches share a basic worldview that embraces interconnectedness; emergent, non-linear outcomes to treatment that include both local and global changes in the human condition; a contextual view of human beings that are inseparable from and responsive to their environments; and interventions that are complex, synergistic, and interdependent. These fundamental beliefs and principles run counter to the assumptions of reductionism and conventional biomedical research methods that presuppose unidimensional simple causes and thus dismantle and individually test various interventions that comprise only single aspects of the WS-CAM system. This paper will demonstrate the superior fit …

Bridging The Gaps: Biomedicine, Complementary And Alternative Medicine In A Holistic Approach, Hatim A. Omar, Joav Merrick

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The 4^th international conference on holistic health and medicine was held during September 24-26, 2008 in Lexington, Kentucky in the United States of America. This conference brought many participants from 23 countries, both mainstream health care providers as well as holistic health practitioners to address the latest in knowledge and research, and in turn to find ways to collaborate and work together to provide the best possible care for their patients and clients. These conferences are held to build bridges between the various fractions of medicine and health care providers. The scientific program included plenary sessions, keynotes, workshops and …

Relief Of Symptoms, Side Effects, And Psychological Distress Through Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine In Women With Breast Cancer, Cecile A. Lengacher, Mary P. Bennett, Kevin E. Kip, Lois Gonzalez, Paul Jacobsen, Charles E. Cox

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Frequency Of Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine In Women With Breast Cancer, Cecile A. Lengacher, Mary Bennett, Kevin E. Kip, Rosemary Keller, Melisa S. Lavance, Lynette S. Smith, Charles E. Cox

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.