How Do Czech Patients Use Alternative Medical Procedures and How Do they Evaluate their Effects? (Sociological Investigation of Experience with Alternative Medicine and Attitudes to it)

Overview

The article deals with unconventional alternative medicine. First the author mentions the phenomenón of alternative therapeutic methods in the context of problema of contemporary society and modem methods in the nineties and gives the most frequent reasons why people make use of alternative medicine. The paper presents original results of empirical research focused on the use of non-conventional methods in tase of health complaints and evaluation of this experience. The general experience with five investigated alternative trenda (acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal treatment, dietetic treatment and lay healing) reached 68% whereby during the last 12 months 36.4% of the respondenta (N=500) used at least one of these methods. Experience with non-conventional medicine ia more extensive among women, in middle-aged subjects and more educated respondenta. As regards subjective evaluation of effects, the poorest balance between positive and negative evaluation is reported by respondenta as regards lay healers. Unconventional medicine is frequently used as concurrent, complementary treatment or as aňer-treatment.

Key words:
unconventional medicine - alternative medicine - psychosocial needs of patients - physician-pacient relationahip - lay healers.