Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) disclosure to health care providers: A qualitative insight from Malaysian thalassemia patients

Abstract

Background and purpose: This study investigated the disclosure of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use to health care providers by Malaysian thalassemia patients. Methods: The semi-structured interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Results: Thematic analysis identified four themes: 1) reason for CAM disclosure, 2) attempt to disclose CAM, 3) withdrawal from CAM disclosure, and 4) non-disclosure of CAM use. The reason for patients’ disclosure of CAM use to healthcare providers is because they wanted to find information about CAM and were afraid of the interaction between the conventional medicine and CAM. Patients also disclosed the use of CAM because they were not satisfied with the conventional medicine that had caused them harm. Conclusion: Effective communication between patients and health care providers is important, especially for patients who are undergoing conventional thalassemia treatment, for fear that there is an interaction between conventional treatment and CAM use.