 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
F Patricia McEachrane-Gross, MD1, Jane M. Liebschutz, MD, MPH2, and Jane M. Liebschutz, MD, MPH2. (1) General Internal Medicine, Boston Medical Center, 91 East Concord Street, Suite 200, Boston, MA 02118, 617-414-3750, eachrane@bu.edu, (2) Section of General Internal Medicine Research Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, 91 East Concord Street, Suite 200, Boston, MA 02118
We will assess the extent of use of Complementary and Alternative Medicne (CAM)within a group of veterans who have been diagnosed with cancer or chronic pain.
A questionnaire designed for self-administration will be mailed to 300 randomly selected patients who were identified in a hospital administrative database as having been seen in the outpatient cancer and chronic pain continuity clinics at least once within a defined 12-month period.
We limited our study to 6 CAM therapies most likely to be familiar to the largest number of veterans – herbs, dietary supplements, chiropractic care, massage therapy, acupuncture and homeopathy. Questions in the survey fall into the following domains: demographics and military service, health beliefs and activities, medical problems and treatments, use of CAM.
In addition to assessing the overall use of CAM in this group, we will compare the use of CAM between veterans who were diagnosed with cancer but are not being seen in a chronic pain clinic and veterans who are being treated in a pain clinic but who have not been diagnosed with cancer.
We have also hypothesized that the use of CAM within a group of veterans who are receiving outpatient care at a VA Health Care System only, will be lower than the use of CAM in a group of veterans who are receiving additional outpatient care at non-VA Health Care Systems.
We are particularly interested in discovering how many veterans who are not currently using CAM therapies would be likely to use those therapies if they were offered at the VA. Complementary and Alternative Medicine modalities are not currently included in VA Health Services. However, The Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act that was passed during the 107th Congress in October of 2002 requires the VA Health Care System to provide chiropractic programs nationwide.
The primary outcome measure, use of CAM, was operationalized in the survey as “used within the past 12 months” and will be analyzed as a dichotomous variable. Sub-analyses of secondary outcome measures will also be performed as dichotomous variables. Independent variables will be analyzed using multiple logistic regression.
We will present our results at the November 2003 APHA meeting.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Veterans
Related Web page: None
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.