PERSPECTIVES OF CANCER SURVIVORS INTERESTED IN UNCONVENTIONAL THERAPIES

Thirty-two survivors of cancer who demonstrated an interest in unconve ntional therapies were interviewed. The results showed that they had a variety of motivations for their interest. They consistently portraye d the mainstream cancer care system as tolerating the use of unconvent ional approaches while essentially remaining disengaged from the subje ct. Many of the survivors argued that health care professionals should be more interested in, more informed about, and more willing to discu ss unconventional therapies. They also believed that personal experien ce was an important source of evidence for considering treatment optio ns and that health care professionals often ignored this evidence, pay ing attention only to randomized clinical trials. In general, the surv ivors made a case for a better response from the health care system re garding consumers' needs concerning unconventional treatment options. Whether and how these needs are addressed represents a major and impor tant challenge for the mainstream cancer care system.