Older adults' use of medical and alternative care

This article reports on a study of 77 older adults, 35 of them patients of family physicians and the other 42 patients of alternative practitioners. W e compare the two groups along a number of dimensions and identify differen ces in health problems, social characteristics, practitioners consulted, re asons for choice of therapy and practitioner pathways taken to care, and le ngth and frequency of practitioner visits. The data show that few older adu lts sought care from alternative practitioners and that those who did so ha d distinctive social and health characteristics. AN the older adults began their search for care with conventional medical doctors. Most remain within the medical system. Those who moved beyond it had not found relief from th eir chronic problems and also had access to wider sources of information ab out alternatives, provided mainly by family and friends. The pathways follo wed by patients of alternative practitioners were complex and varied, but t hese patients did not forsake medical care.