title: Problem-solving and decision-making preferences: no difference between complementary and alternative medicine users and non-users.
abstract: The objective of this study was to determine if complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) Users are more autonomous than Non-Users with respect to their preferred role in decision-making (measured by the problem-solving decision-making or PSDM scale). A survey was mailed in spring 2001 to a random sample of 696 men (selected from the Ontario Cancer Registry), aged 18 years or older and diagnosed with prostate cancer in the preceding 2 years. Less than 5% of the 489 (72.1% response rate) men (mean age 68.6 years) who responded to the PSDM question in our survey were classified as having an autonomous role preference, while almost 1/3 of the respondents reported using CAM for their prostate cancer. The majority of respondents were classified as preferring a shared role and a substantial minority was classified as preferring a passive role. There was no statistically significant difference between CAM users and non-users with respect to their preferred role. The hypothesis that CAM Users are more autonomous problem solvers and decision makers is not supported by these findings; however, the generalizability of our results is limited by the fact that we surveyed a relatively older male population only.
authors.affiliation: Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Ont., Canada. heather.boon@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Westlake
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deber
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moineddin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology; D011340:Problem Solving; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy