Beyond Patienthood: Integrative medicine, healing environments and the journey toward new selfhood.

Authors

  • A M Kabel University of Missouri's School of Health Professions

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2012.94

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to learn about the relationship between participation in an integrative medicine program and the impact upon the social identities of seven individuals with cancer. Data were collected via semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and observations in the clinic space, and analyzed using a constant comparison method. All of the participants reported a change in their social identities as they transitioned between illness and wellness. The sub-themes that emerged included: the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a means of fighting cancer after chemotherapy ended, maintaining health becoming a main occupation, and the “cancer filter” through which all other experiences are viewed, shaping the post-treatment phase of life. Overall, findings suggest that seeking CAM played a role in the participants’ transitions from selves defined by patient status, to new selves, with new perspectives.

Author Biography

A M Kabel, University of Missouri's School of Health Professions

Allison Kabel is an Assistant Professor of in the University of Missouri's School o fHealth Professions.

References

Adler,S.(2011).Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection. Rutgers University Press.

American Cancer Society.(2003). Cancer Facts and Figures. Atlanta: American Cancer Society.

Aziz N., Rowland J.(2003). Trends and Advances in Cancer Survivorship Research: Challenge and Opportunity. Seminars in Radiation Oncology 13(3): 248-266.

Baer, H.(2004).Toward an Integrative Medicine: Merging Alternative Therapies with Biomedicine. New York: Altamira Press.

Block, KI.(2004). Optimal Healing Environments and Integrative Cancer Therapy; Editorial. Integrative Cancer Therapies 3 (2): 95-97.

Block, KI., Gyllenhall, C.(2004). The role of optimal healing environments in patients undergoing cancer treatment: Clinical research protocol guidelines. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1):s157-70.

Becker, G.(1994). Metaphors in disrupted lives: Infertility and cultural constructions of continuity. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 8 (4): 383-410.

Boon, H., Stewart, M., Kennard, MA., Gray, R., Sawka, C., Brown, JB., McWilliam, C., Garvin, A., Baron, RA., Aaron, D., Haines-Kamka, T.(2000). Use of complementary/alternative medicine by breast cancer survivors in Ontario: prevalence and perceptions. J Clinical Oncology 189130:2515-2521.

Cassileth B., Deng, G.(2004). Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Cancer. The Oncologist 9:80-89.

Campbell, J.(1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press.

Carpenter, JS.(1997). Self-esteem and wellbeing among women with breast cancer and women in an age-matched comparison group. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology 15: 59–80.

Carpenter, JS., Brockopp, DY., Andrykowski, M.A.(1999). Self-transformation as a factor in the self-esteem and well-being of breast cancer survivors. Journal of Advanced Nursing 29: 1402–1411.

Dijkstra, K., Pieterse, M., Pruyn, AD.(2006). Physical environmental stimuli that turn healthcare facilities into healing environments through psychologically mediated effects: systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing 56 (2):166-181.

Drew, E.M., Schoenberg, N.E.(2011). Deconstructing fatalism: Ethnographic perspectives on women’s decision making about cancer prevention and treatment. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 25 (2): 164-182.

Drisko, JA, Chapman, J., Hunter, VJ.(2003). The Use of antioxidant therapies during chemotherapy. Gynecologic Oncology 88: 434-439.

Drisko, JA., Chapman, J., Hunter, VJ(2003). The Use of antioxidants with first-line chemotherapy in two cases of ovarian cancer. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 22 (2): 118-123.

Eisenberg, DM., Davis, R., Ettner, S., Appl, S., Wilkey, S., Van Rompay, M., Kessler, RC.(1998). Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997. JAMA 280:1569-1575.

Eisenberg, DM., Kessler, R., Foster, C., Norlock, F., Calkins, D., Delbance, T. (1993). Unconventional medicine in the United States: Prevalence, costs and patterns of use. NEJM 28 (328): 246-252.

Ernest, E., Cassileth, BR.(1998). The prevalence of complementary/alternative medicine in cancer: a systematic review. Cancer 83:777-782.

Findlay, B., Verhoef, M.(2004). Operationalizing the concept of the optimal healing environment in clinical settings: The importance of readiness. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s121-s126.

Frank, A.(1995). The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics. The University of Chicago Press.

Frankel, RM., Sung, SH., Hsu, J.(2005). Patients, doctors and videotape: A prescription for creating optimal healing environments? The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 11 (1): s31-9.

Frost, G.(2004). The Spa model of an optimal healing environment. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s85-s92.

Geller, G., Warren, LR.(2004). Toward an optimal healing environment in pediatric rehabilitation. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s179-92.

Glazer, BG., Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.

Grober, U.(2009). Antioxidants and Other Micronutrients in Complementary Oncology. Breast Care 4: 13-20.

Halliburton, M.(2009). Mudpacks and Prozac: Experiencing Ayurvedic, Biomedical, and Religious Healing. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

Jonas, WB., Chez, RA., Duffy, B., Strand, D.(2003). Investigating the impact of optimal healing environments. Alternative Therapy 9 (6):36-40.

Kleinman, A.(1988). The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing and the Human Condition. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Kligler , B.(2004). The role of the optimal healing environment in the care of patients with diabetes mellitus type II. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s223-9.

Lampic, C.(1999). Psychological distress in cancer care patients – a matter of perspective? In: Department of Public Health and Social Sciences: section for Caring Sciences. Uppsala, Sweden:Uppsala University.

Lawton, J.(2000). The Dying Process: Patients’ Experiences of Palliative Care. London: Routledge.

Marshall, DA., Walizer, E., Vernalis, MN.(2004). Optimal healing environments for chronic cardiovascular disease. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s147-s155.

Monti, D., Yang, J.(2005). Complementary Medicine in Chronic Cancer Care. Seminars in Oncology 32:225-231.

Monti, DM., Stoner, M.(2002). Complementary and Alternative Medicine, in Kornstein SG, Clyaton AH (eds): Women’s Mental Health. New York: Guilford: 344-356

Nichter, M.(2002). The Social Relations of Therapy Management in New Horizons in Medical Anthropology: Essays in Honour of Charles Leslie. Mark Nichter and Margaret Lock, eds. Routledge: New York.81-110.

O’Malley, PJ.(2005). Studying optimal healing environments: Challenges and proposals. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 11 (1): s17-22.

Quillin, P.(2001). Beating Cancer with Nutrition. Nutrition Times Press.

Reid-Arndt, S., Matsuda, S., Cox, C.(2012). Tai Chi effects on neuropsychological, emotional and physical functioning following cancer treatment: A pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 18: 26-30.

Richardson, MA., Sanders, T., Palmer, JL., Greisinger, A., Singletary, SE.(2000). Complementary/Alternative Medicine use in a comprehensive cancer center and the implications for oncology. J Clin Oncol 18(13): 2505-2514.

Schweitzer, M., Gilpin, L., Frampton, S.(2004). Healing spaces: Elements of environmental design that make an impact on health. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s71-s83.

Silver , S.(2004).Optimal healing environments in end-of-life care and beyond. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): 201-209.

Smith, D., Hudson, S.(2011) Using the person-Environment-Occupational Performance conceptual model as an analyzing framework for health literacy. Journal of Communication in Health Care: 1-9.

Sontag, S.(1978). Illness as Metaphor. New York: Vintage.

Swanson, KM., Wojnar, D.M.(2004). Optimal healing environments in nursing. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s43-s48.

Taylor, EJ.(2000). Transforming of tragedy among women surviving breast cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum 27: 781–788.

Wesa, KM., Culliton, P.(2004). Recommendations and guidelines regarding the preferred research protocol for investigating the impact of an optimal healing environment on patients with substance abuse. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s193-9.

Wesa, KM., Grimm, RH.(2004). Recommendations and guidelines regarding the preferred research protocol for investigating the impact of an optimal healing environment on patients with hypertension. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10 (1): s245-50.

Yoshida, M.(2002). A Theoretical model of biomedical professional’s legitimization of alternative therapies. Complementary Health Practice Review 7: 187-208.

Downloads

Published

2012-08-14

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2012): Identities

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.