School of Pharmacy, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Sir Robert Aitken Institute for Medical Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Int J Clin Pharm. 2022 Dec;44(6):1312-1324. doi: 10.1007/s11096-022-01469-6. Epub 2022 Sep 22.
An important part of diabetes self-management includes discussing and seeking informal advice from others.
This study aimed to explore beliefs and experiences of patients in relation to their use of CAM in diabetes through the use of data from online patient forum discussions.
Google search engine was used to identify relevant web-based online discussion forums in English language focussing on CAM use (including herbal and other unorthodox therapies) in diabetes and posted by either patients or carers. No date limit was imposed. A qualitative content analysis was adopted for analysis.
Twenty-two online forums containing 77 threads with 1156 posts and replies were identified. Seven major themes emerged from the data analysis including: patient beliefs regarding CAM use, perceived effectiveness and safety of CAM, evidence base and information seeking. Patients used online forums to seek information about the benefits, side effects and share positive and negative experiences of CAM use. Feeling stressed, frustrated or overwhelmed with diabetes and prescribed medications was often linked to their decisions to use CAM. They described that healthcare professionals were often unaware or unable to help in regards to their queries around CAMs.
Patients with diabetes use online forums to share information regarding CAM use. There is a scope for professional societies, patient charities and health systems to offer such online platforms to promote rationale use of CAM, provide evidence-based information to patients and alleviate fears and concerns around diabetes and prescribed medicines.
糖尿病自我管理的一个重要部分包括与他人讨论和寻求非正式建议。
本研究旨在通过使用来自在线患者论坛讨论的数据，探讨患者在使用 CAM 治疗糖尿病方面的信念和经验。
谷歌搜索引擎用于识别英文的在线讨论论坛，这些论坛专注于 CAM 在糖尿病中的使用（包括草药和其他非传统疗法），由患者或护理人员发布。未设置日期限制。采用定性内容分析进行分析。
确定了 22 个在线论坛，其中包含 77 个主题和 1156 个帖子和回复。数据分析中出现了七个主要主题，包括：患者对 CAM 使用的信念、CAM 的感知效果和安全性、循证基础和信息寻求。患者使用在线论坛获取有关 CAM 益处、副作用以及分享 CAM 使用的积极和消极经验的信息。对糖尿病和处方药感到压力、沮丧或不知所措，往往会导致他们决定使用 CAM。他们表示，医疗保健专业人员通常对他们关于 CAM 的询问不了解或无法提供帮助。
糖尿病患者使用在线论坛分享有关 CAM 使用的信息。专业协会、患者慈善机构和卫生系统有机会提供此类在线平台，以促进 CAM 的合理使用，为患者提供循证信息，并减轻对糖尿病和处方药的恐惧和担忧。
