A qualitative investigation of Australian psychologists' perceptions about complementary and alternative medicine for use in clinical practice

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Author(s)
Hamilton, Kyra
Marietti, Vanina
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
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This study explored psychologists' knowledge of, attitude toward, and experience with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for clinical purposes. Using a qualitative design, 18 Australian psychologists participated in a semi-structured interview. Psychologists had some understanding about CAM; yet, there was a mismatch between their perceived and actual knowledge. While psychologists were, in general, open toward using CAM with clients they were also sceptical. Attitudes did not overly influence psychologists' views about using CAM in practice, rather adhering to the scientist-practitioner model and embracing a ...
View more >This study explored psychologists' knowledge of, attitude toward, and experience with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for clinical purposes. Using a qualitative design, 18 Australian psychologists participated in a semi-structured interview. Psychologists had some understanding about CAM; yet, there was a mismatch between their perceived and actual knowledge. While psychologists were, in general, open toward using CAM with clients they were also sceptical. Attitudes did not overly influence psychologists' views about using CAM in practice, rather adhering to the scientist-practitioner model and embracing a client-centred approach affected their beliefs. Different views emerged as guiding psychologists' use of CAM; however, the codes of conduct played a major role in informing psychologists' use in clinical practice. Psychologists appear open to the idea to use some forms of CAM to enhance client care; yet, they experience unique difficulties such as ethical constraints that may prevent their actual use of CAM for clinical purposes.
View less >
View more >This study explored psychologists' knowledge of, attitude toward, and experience with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for clinical purposes. Using a qualitative design, 18 Australian psychologists participated in a semi-structured interview. Psychologists had some understanding about CAM; yet, there was a mismatch between their perceived and actual knowledge. While psychologists were, in general, open toward using CAM with clients they were also sceptical. Attitudes did not overly influence psychologists' views about using CAM in practice, rather adhering to the scientist-practitioner model and embracing a client-centred approach affected their beliefs. Different views emerged as guiding psychologists' use of CAM; however, the codes of conduct played a major role in informing psychologists' use in clinical practice. Psychologists appear open to the idea to use some forms of CAM to enhance client care; yet, they experience unique difficulties such as ethical constraints that may prevent their actual use of CAM for clinical purposes.
View less >
Journal Title
Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice
Volume
29
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.
Subject
Traditional, complementary and integrative medicine
Traditional, complementary and integrative medicine not elsewhere classified
Nursing