Interest in use of complementary therapy, those neither taught widely in medical schools or generally available in hospitals, has increased greatly over the past decade. By 1990, out-of-pocket spending by the U. S. population for complementary therapy exceeded that spent for out-of-pocket spending for hospitalizations. Since that time, complementary therapy has achieved greater acceptance within the health care community and is included in some health care plans. This trend has far-reaching implications for health care professionals because complementary therapy can be effective alone or in combination with traditional care or even contra-indicated. Also, use of complementary therapy is not reported to traditional health care professionals by the individual 72% of the time. Research thus far has not explored the patterns of use of complementary therapy in specific populations, therefore, this study targets the use of complementary therapy by older (60+) rural dwellers. It is possible that the use of complementary therapy by this population may be even higher than that of the general population because elder rural dwellers have been shown to be more independent and to engage in more self-care than their urban counterparts; they have less access to traditional health care. Because complementary therapy is often self-care in nature and is generally provided by non-traditional providers, it is important to explore the question, """"""""What impact does complementary therapy have on the health of older people living in rural areas?"""""""" The goal of this study is to explore the use, cost, and satisfaction with complementary therapy by older adults in rural communities. The Aday and Andersen model is used as an organizing framework for this cross-sectional survey of older people living in the rural areas of Montana and North Dakota. Telephone interviews will be used to obtain information on the use, cost, and satisfaction with complementary therapy. Data will also be collected on selected characteristics of the health delivery system and sample, on utilization of health services and satisfaction with services. The sample will consist of 320 rural older persons from randomly selected households in North Dakota (n=160) and Montana (n=160). Rural counties, for the purpose of this study, are defined as those counties in Montana and North Dakota that do not contain metropolitan areas, that is, centers of commerce that exceed 20,00 residents. It is expected that this study will determine the extent to which older rural dwellers use complementary therapies, the therapies they use, what they use them for, where they obtain their information about such therapies, and their level of satisfaction with the therapies.
| Shreffler-Grant, Jean; Weinert, Clarann; Nichols, Elizabeth et al. (2005) Complementary therapy use among older rural adults. Public Health Nurs 22:323-31 |
