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Qualitative Health Research
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Exploring the Temporal Dimension in Cancer Patients' Experiences of Nonbiomedical Therapeutics

Alex Broom

University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Philip Tovey

University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

To date, research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by cancer patients has tended to provide a "snapshot" of experience, with little attention given to the evolution of experience over time. Drawing on data from solicited diaries, this article examines individual cancer patients' temporal experiences of CAM. Our findings suggest that experiences of CAM are variable over time and space, and furthermore, that the everyday act of "doing CAM" is considerably more problematic than is often reported in face-to-face interview or survey studies. This is explored in relation to the tension between the perceived need for restrictive self-discipline alongside a sense of the emancipatory potential of CAM; the role of CAM therapists in reconceptualizing disease; and the complex interplay between CAM-derived notions of self-healing and acceptance of individual mortality. We argue that an emphasis on the temporality of cancer patients' CAM engagement is necessary to access a more nuanced understanding of the lived experiences of cancer patients.

Key Words: cancer • complementary and alternative medicine • healing • integrative therapies • lived experience • sociology

This version was published on December 1, 2008

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 18, No. 12, 1650-1661 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732308326511
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A. Broom
Intuition, Subjectivity, and Le Bricoleur: Cancer Patients' Accounts of Negotiating a Plurality of Therapeutic Options
Qual Health Res, August 1, 2009; 19(8): 1050 - 1059.
[Abstract] [PDF]