The use of complementary therapies by cancer patients

Since the beginning of time, persons with acute or chronic diseases have sought added control over their fates in the form of whatever therapies offered hope. Although conventional treatments for cancer have been proven to lower mortality rates significantly, patients continue to look for more ways to combat their illnesses. Little in the literature supports the actual frequency of use of such therapies, nor do we have published data to support the general assumption that their popularity is growing. This group of researchers reanalyzed data from the Cancer Survivorship Questionnaire of the 1992 National Health Interview Survey to compare the use of self-healing and psychosocial techniques before and after 1987. Using Martha Roger's conceptual framework of the Science of Unitary Human Beings, these therapies were viewed as unitary field practice modalities. Results of the secondary analysis of data from 2970 patients revealed that use of additional therapies increased by 63.9% after 1987.