| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 臨床暨社區護理研究所 === 99 === Abstract
According to WHO (2003), the prevalence rate of osteoarthritis for elderly people aged over 65 reaches 10%~20%. Western medicine uses surgeries and analgesics as major treatments; however, due to side effects, the patients sometimes turn to Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM). CAM is diverse and is not well incorporated into the health care system of Taiwan. In addition, it lacks the voice of the users who engage in self care. Therefore, this study aims to discover the experiences and feelings of the elder people with osteoarthritis who have used CAM, interpreting their feelings and experiences and making a comparison between elderly people living in urban areas and those living in rural areas.
This study uses ethnography as a research approach, and employs ethnographic interview, focus group, and moderate participation to collect data. The principle of theoretical sampling was applied and data collection is ended when the criteria of theoretical saturation were met. The elderly diagnosed with osteoarthritis over six months and having used CAM was recruited. From January 2009 to July 2010, the total of twenty elderly lived in five different rural and urban areas participated in the study. They explain their experiences of risk management in using CAM, and we use the constant comparative method to analyze data. The five cultural themes generated as follows: 1. unceasing disturbances coming from feet, 2. Osteoarthritis results from the lived experience of manual labor, 3. Childbirth impedes women’s bodily health and the “ bad doing the month” practices make the situation worse. 4. interpretation of risk, 5. strategies of risk management manifests the relationship between local cultures and roles & positions in social networks.
According to this study, the discovery of the elderly people’s experiences of using CAM can help nursing staff to understand the social cultural context of risk interpretation and management. It is suggested that the nursing staff should consider the significance of the social cultural context, social network, and local culture influencing the risk management of elderly people who use CAM for their OA. The healthcare professionals are urged to consider the appropriateness of today’s CAM instead of always telling the elderly people about the risk figures in medical experiments of CAM. This study aims to provide knowledge for professionals regarding CAM from user’s perspective serving as references and expanding the dimension of our risk management.
Keywords: Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM), Osteoarthritis, Risk,
Risk Regulation, users
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