McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Integr Cancer Ther. 2011 Dec;10(4):305-11. doi: 10.1177/1534735410395136. Epub 2011 Mar 7.
To assess feasibility of methods for a future study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by cancer patients treated in conventional health care settings.
Patients aged 18 years and older, fluent in English or French, and diagnosed with cancer from St. Mary's Hospital Center, Montreal, Canada participated. Feasibility was measured by the rates of participation and CAM use in the past 1 and 12 months. Following the survey, one patient focus group was held to better understand cancer patient perspectives on discussions of CAM that occur or not with their family physicians.
Of 103 patients approached, 100 (97.1%; 77% female, 87% white) participated. Overall, 86% and 91% of respondents used at least one CAM in the past 1 and 12 months, respectively. More patients with breast compared with colorectal and other cancers (90.2%, 86.2%, and 80%, respectively) used CAM in the previous year. In the past 1 and 12 months, natural health products were used by 70% and 80% of respondents, respectively; mind-body therapies by 61% and 64%, respectively, and CAM practitioners by 11% and 29%, respectively. More than 98% of patients used CAM to improve quality of life and 68% disclosed CAM use to their physicians. Four of 5 focus group participants used CAM. Patient-physician CAM discussions varied from receiving a CAM referral to complete dismissal of the topic.
Recruitment methods were well accepted but a sampling strategy stratified by sex and ethnicity will ensure sufficient representation by males and non-whites. Whereas disclosure of natural health products use is occurring, informative CAM discussion is not.
评估在常规医疗环境中治疗的癌症患者使用补充和替代医学（CAM）的未来研究方法的可行性。
来自加拿大蒙特利尔圣玛丽医院中心的年龄在 18 岁及以上、能熟练使用英语或法语、并被诊断患有癌症的患者参与了此项研究。通过过去 1 个月和 12 个月的参与率和 CAM 使用率来衡量可行性。调查结束后，举行了一次患者焦点小组会议，以更好地了解癌症患者对与家庭医生进行或不进行 CAM 讨论的看法。
在接触的 103 名患者中，有 100 名（97.1%；77%为女性，87%为白人）参与了研究。总体而言，分别有 86%和 91%的受访者在过去 1 个月和 12 个月内至少使用了一种 CAM。与结直肠癌和其他癌症患者相比，更多患有乳腺癌的患者（分别为 90.2%、86.2%和 80%）在过去一年中使用了 CAM。在过去 1 个月和 12 个月内，分别有 70%和 80%的受访者使用了天然保健品；分别有 61%和 64%的受访者使用了身心疗法；分别有 11%和 29%的受访者使用了 CAM 从业者。超过 98%的患者使用 CAM 来提高生活质量，68%的患者向医生透露了 CAM 的使用情况。5 名焦点小组参与者中有 4 名使用了 CAM。患者与医生之间的 CAM 讨论情况从接受 CAM 转介到完全忽略该话题不等。
招募方法得到了很好的认可，但采用按性别和种族分层的抽样策略将确保男性和非白人的代表性足够。尽管天然保健品的使用情况已经得到披露，但关于 CAM 的信息交流却没有。
