Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 21, Issue 5, 2019, Pages 1137-1156

A Systematic Review of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Amongst Ethnic Minority Populations: A Focus Upon Prevalence, Drivers, Integrative Use, Health Outcomes, Referrals and Use of Information Sources (Review)

Agu J.C. , Hee-Jeon Y. , Steel A. , Adams J.*
  • a Faculty of Health, Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
  • b Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  • c Faculty of Health, Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia, Office of Research, Endeavour College of Natural Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  • d Faculty of Health, Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia, UTS, Building 10, Level 8, 235-253 Jones Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia

Abstract

Ethnic minority populations have been identified as high users of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). This paper reports the systematic review of TCAM use amongst ethnic minorities. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in Ovid, PubMed and CINAHL. Included studies were original, peer-reviewed, English language articles with the primary focus on TCAM use amongst ethnic minority populations. A total of 17 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. A considerable level of TCAM use was observed amongst ethnic minority populations usually attributed to its perceived safe and natural properties. Ethnic minority populations predominantly used TCAM concurrently with conventional medicine and primary TCAM referral sources were family and friends. A substantial level of TCAM integration with conventional medicine is common practice amongst these populations and the lack of disclosure about TCAM use raises an important area for further research inquiry. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

Complementary therapies CAM use Complementary and alternative medicine ethnic minorities

Index Keywords

ethnic group patient referral Review alternative medicine driver Medline prevalence English (language) systematic review Article allopathy Cinahl human friend human experiment
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85055972182&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-018-0832-4&partnerID=40&md5=a59e81481d54f18a5755fe2c55606178
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-018-0832-4
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English