Nina Nissen

What Attitudes and Needs Do Citizens in Europe Have in Relation to Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Background: Surveys from several European countries suggest a European-wide increase in the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). To safeguard citizens’ rights concerning their healthcare, it is critical to gain an overview of citizens’ attitudes and to understand their expectations and needs regarding CAM. Methods: A review of literature was undertaken, based on systematic searches of the following electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, CINHAL, AMED, PsycINFO and PsycArticles; 189 articles met inclusion criteria. Articles were analysed thematically and their reporting quality assessed. Results: Despite the limited availability of research-based knowledge about citizens’ attitudes and needs concerning CAM in many European countries, some trends can be noted. Many citizens hold positive attitudes to CAM and wish for increasing access to CAM provision. Citizens call for impartial, reliable and trustworthy information to support informed decision-making, and some citizens wish for greater support and involvement of biomedical healthcare professionals in facilitating their healthcare choices. While citizens value distinct aspects of CAM practice, they are also critical consumers and support clear regulatory and educational frameworks to ensure the quality and safety of CAM provision and medicinal products. Conclusion: To gain knowledge on citizens’ needs and attitudes to CAM across Europe further research is required on 3 main issues: i) how citizens across Europe obtain information about CAM and the needs they may have for trustworthy information sources, ii) the local situations for accessing CAM and iii) citizens’ perspectives on the quality of care and safety of CAM provision and products.

Researching alternative and complementary therapies: mapping the field

Medical systems and practices are central to medical anthropological inquiry. Yet therapies designated over time as alternative or complementary systems to biomedicine have received surprisingly little attention, disproportionate to the attention from clinical scientists concerned with proving (or disproving) the efficacy of specific compounds and the effectiveness of these therapeutic interventions. Clinical interest in the use of these modalities was and continues to be driven partly by interest in them as additional tools to treat people with chronic and nonspecific problems that do not respond well to biomedical treatment. In much of the world, however, different therapies are integrated in teaching and clinical practice, with continual exchanges of technologies and hybridization in the process (Karchmer 2010; Lang and Jansen, this issue; Hampshire and Owusu 2012). Elsewhere, despite biomedical dominance, there is a long tradition of parallel—and so alternative—practices (Baer 1984, 2001), driven partly too by user demands for more natural forms of medical practices and dissatisfaction with biomedical healthcare (Anderson 2010; Nissen et al. 2012).

Men’s Everyday Health Care: Practices, Tensions and Paradoxes, and Masculinities in Denmark

ABSTRACT My interest is in how masculinities are enacted and implicated in different care repertoires. Drawing on Mol’s notion of “logic of care,” I illustrate that in Denmark some men’s care practices are an integral part of their life projects, and so they target both the human body, and sociality and relationality, as everyday care. In this way, men enact, embody, and weave together a self- and other-directed “caring masculinity” with practices of autonomy, self-discipline, and the aestheticization of male bodies. Contesting and enriching familiar framings of men’s health care and masculinities, I draw attention to the value of considering practices of health care beyond individualized experiences, and of acknowledging the complex patterns of masculinity in health and illness. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo

Belonging and quality of life as perceived by people with advanced cancer who live at home

ABSTRACT Introduction: In a previous paper, we explored how people with advanced cancer experience occupational engagement and perceive quality of life; this pointed to the importance of doing things with and for others. These emerging findings resonate with the theoretical conceptualization of belonging within occupational science. Purpose: To gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which perceived quality of life of people with advanced cancer who live at home may be associated with belonging, mediated through occupation. Methods: Nine participants took part in this study which used a combination of semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation to generate data. Data from 18 interviews and 77 photographs were analyzed thematically, drawing on four dimensions of belonging. Findings: The findings highlight that maintaining engagement in occupations enables a sense of belonging which the participants associated with quality of life. Aspects related to the dimension of social belonging may become especially important when living with advanced cancer and isolation may constitute a potential barrier to experiencing a sense of belonging. Artefacts may also enable a sense of belonging and generate existential and spiritual feelings which may evoke concerns of impending death.

Walking sticks for muscle, bone and joint health in rural Botswana: villager perspectives from the World Spine Care MuBoJo project

The World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) held its 13th Biennial Congress in Athens, Greece, on May 13 through 16, 2015. The WFC call for abstracts resulted in 237 submissions from 19 countries (Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States). From these abstracts, a total of 40 platforms and 117 posters were presented at the Congress.Objectives: People of rural Botswana rely on walking as their principal mode of transport over long distances and rugged geographical terrain. For those who suffer from Muscle, Bone and Joint (MuBoJo) disorders, navigating spaces and places contributes to everyday burdens that are not well represented in the literature. In this qualitative study we observed the use of walking sticks amongst villagers in rural Botswana and examined how they might support MuBoJo health.