In response to two peers, address the following:
- Compare your analysis of the case to your peers' viewpoints. In places where you disagree, offer a competing understanding of where the priorities lie. In areas where you agree, add additional evidence to support the consensus.
- Compare your disciplinary perspective to that of your peers. If you are coming from the same discipline, in what ways was your analysis similar? If you are informed by different disciplines, how do your perspectives diverge?
Jaime Discussion:
Qi therapy is not effective in curing cancer. According to the case study the patient experienced “improvements in mood and alertness, and a reduction in pain, anxiety, depression, discomfort, and fatigue…” (Johnson & Holtz, 2022). In this situation the qi therapy helped to alleviate symptoms of cancer, not cure the cancer. This is in line with other research I found on the use of qigong. Kuo et al (2021) found that qigong therapy significantly helped with cancer related fatigue as well as helped to improve the sleep quality of cancer patients. While this is not a cure for cancer, helping to improve quality of life, and thereby mental health, is just as important as treating the illness.
When it comes to the use of CIH therapies, like qi therapy, Tangkiatkumjai et al (2020) found there are 3 main drivers to patients using CIH (referred to a CAM in their paper) therapies; these include, perceived benefits, safety of CIH and dissatisfaction with conventional medicine with the most common expected outcomes being treatment of illness, alleviation of symptoms and reducing side effects of conventional medicine. In the same article they found the most common reasons for not using CIH therapies includes doubts about efficacy, perceived lowered effectiveness of CIH over conventional medicine, concerns about side effects, and unavailability of CIH. Based on these findings, if I were making a recommendation of CIH therapy I would first confirm the availability of the CIH therapies around my practice (or become certified to offer a therapy that’s not in my area that I would like to recommend). Following this verification, I would recommend CIH to pretty much everyone as an adjunctive therapy. Honestly, I have recommended CIH therapies to family and friends without even realizing that’s what I was offering them and on more than one occasion the person I recommended it to thought I was crazy, tried it because they tried “everything else, why not this” and found it to be very helpful.
References
Johnson, P. H., & Holtz, C. (2022). Global Health Care Issues and Policies (4th Edition). Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Kuo, C.-C., Wang, C.-C., Chang, W.-L., Liao, T.-C., Chen, P.-E., & Tung, T.-H. (2021). Clinical effects of baduanjin qigong exercise on cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 21, 1-10. doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6651238
Tangkiatkumjai, M., Boardman, H., & Walker, D. (2020). Potential factors that influence usage of complementary and alternative medicine worldwide: A systemic review. BMC Complementary Medicine and Theiries, 20(363), 1-15. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-03157-2
Rhoshae Discussion:
Complementary and integrative health approach (CIH) is known to focus on patient empowerment, self-activation, preventive self-care, and wellness, it is often used along with traditional medical practices ( Complementary and Integrative Health, 2021). The CIH approach that was used to address the health challenge of ovarian cancer in this case was Qi Therapy. Qi therapy does not cure cancer but as stated in the case it has some beneficial effects on some symptoms related to ovarian cancer such as reduction in pain, anxiety, depression, and mood and alertness (Holtz, 2022). According to Gubili et al. (2020) qigong therapy is a safe noninvasive supportive approach from symptom management and enhanced quality of life.
Qigong therapy is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that was developed thousands of years ago that focuses on the mind, body, and spirit ( Qigong: What You Need to Know, 2022). Culturally qigong is known to be most popular in China for exercise, relaxation, and preventive medicine, as well as being a part of martial arts training. The economic impact on qi therapy is that this form of preventative treatment is less likely to be done in the United States which may result in the patient having to travel out of the country to obtain this type of care. Also, since qi therapy is not a part of modern medicine it would not be covered by insurance which would result in the patient having out-of-pocket costs for this type of treatment. Politically CIH approaches are looked at as being beneficial especially to veterans experiencing things like anxiety, pain and depression; according to (Taylor et al., 2019) the Veterans Health Administration has been at the forefront of implementing CIH approaches.
References:
Complementary and Integrative Health. (2021, January 15). www.research.va.gov. https://www.research.va.gov/topics/cih.cfm#:~:text=CIH%20emphasizes%20patient%20empowerment%2C%20self
Gubili , J., Corcoran, S., & Latte-Naor, S. (2020, July 20). What the Evidence Says About Qigong in Patients With Cancer. ONS Voice. https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/what-the-evidence-says-about-qigong-in-patients-with-cancer
Holtz, C. (2022). Global Health Care: Issues and Policies (4th Edition). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Qigong: What You Need To Know. (2022). National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/qigong-what-you-need-to-know
Taylor, S. L., Hoggatt, K. J., & Kligler, B. (2019). Complementary and Integrated Health Approaches: What Do Veterans Use and Want. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(7), 1192–1199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-04862-6