HEALTH-CARE AND CONSUMER CHOICE - MEDICAL AND ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES

This paper reports on research conducted in a large Canadian city duri ng 1994-1995. The study examines the motivations of patients who choos e to seek care from one of five different types of practitioners: fami ly physicians, chiropractors, acupuncturists/traditional Chinese docto rs, naturopaths and Reiki practitioners. We use the Andersen socio-beh avioural model to help explain why people choose orthodox medicine or a type of alternative care. The data are derived from face to face int erviews with 300 patients: 60 from each of the five modes of treatment . The findings demonstrate that this model can explain the use of alte rnative as well as orthodox medical services. Patients choose specific kinds of practitioners for particular problems, and some use a mixtur e of practitioners to treat a specific complaint. The choice of type o f practitioner(s) is multidimensional and cannot solely be explained e ither by disenchantment with medicine or by an ''alternative ideology' '. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.