Family and complementary and alternative medicine

Abstract

Families of patients with cancer shape and share in the many and difficult decisions faced following diagnosis, with significant involvement in decisions regarding complementary and alternative medicine. Such decisions may be particularly difficult due to conflicting opinions regarding complementary and alternative medicine and relative lack of medical guidance. Family may act as information seekers, advocates and/or role models, either prompting, enabling or discouraging use by the patient. Complementary and alternative medicine use within a family may promote familial cohesion and functioning, or increase familial distress and conflict. Where outcomes are poor, the ability of the family to care for themselves and the patient may be compromised, adding to the burden of cancer within the community. Some complementary and alternative medicine may offer benefits to family members themselves, either with or without patient use. Evidence is lacking, however, regarding the effect of differences in the experiences or perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine use by individuals in different familial relationships to the patient, or in differences associated with gender, socio-economic or geographical status, ethnic or cultural background, or non-traditional family structure. Morever, little is known about how families negotiate decisions about complementary and alternative medicine, nor of the long-term consequences of these decisions upon family well-being and functioning. Such knowledge would enable clinicians to better advise patients and their families on treatment choices following a cancer diagnosis.