CAM - interview guide

CAM Attachment 2- Interviewer Guide including areas of interest and thematic concerns for the Qualitative Interview Study Designed to Investigate Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Well-Being for NHIS

The Public Health Service Act provides us with the authority to do this research (42 United States Code 242k). All information which would permit identification of any individual, a practice, or an establishment will be held confidential, will be used only by NCHS staff, contractors, and agents only when required and with necessary controls, and will not be disclosed or released to other persons without the consent of the individual or the establishment in accordance with section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 USC 242m) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (PL-107-347).

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to CDC/ATSDR Reports Clearance Officer; 1600 Clifton Road, MS D-24, Atlanta, GA 30333, ATTN: PRA (0920-0222).

OMB #0920-0222; Expiration Date: 03/31/2013

Note to Reviewers:

We will first present respondents with a list of various complementary and alternative medical therapies and treatments (CAM) and ask if they have used or participated in any of them. From there we will go into greater depth and ask more specific questions about their experiences with and reasons for selecting these treatments and/or therapies. Listed below are areas of interest and thematic concerns around which the interviews will be structured.

User’s history with the therapy or treatment: Our interest here is in gathering biographical data that provides a context for the patient’s interest in and use of CAM. We will ask respondents about their background with the particular therapy – how long have they been using it, when did they start, etc.

Push and pull factors: The literature on complementary and alternative therapies often reference what they refer to as “push and pull factors,” specifically, the factors that encourage use of alternative medical treatment and discourage the use of more traditional “mainstream” medical practices. We will investigate these factors further by asking patients to describe their reasons for using CAM and the kinds of expectations they had of the different therapies and treatments. We will also explore if and how their reasons for using CAM are related to those that we uncovered in our initial review of cognitive interview data, for example, the use of CAM to treat and alleviate pain and ward off diseases, its convenience, its emphasis on totality, and other reasons that we noted previously.

Personal Experiences: The interviews will also involve in-depth probing on each patient’s experience with alternative treatments/therapies. For example, what has it been like for them to use these particular treatments/therapies? How have their symptoms changed or improved? Why did they decide to continue (or discontinue) using the treatment/therapy?

Well-being: In order to understand the relationship between well-being and CAM use, the interviewers will ask respondents about their understanding of the term “well-being” and how it relates to their use of CAM, and if it does, in fact, relate at all.

Introduction to Qualitative Cognitive Interview

Thank you for agreeing to meet here today. Karen has explained that we will be [audio/ video] taping our session today and you gave permission to do that, correct? (If yes, then proceed; if no, then review procedure).

Karen may have told you that today we will be talking about your experiences with complementary and Alternative Medicine. We are interested in knowing the particular kinds of treatments you have undergone or supplements you may have taken. We want to know more about why you made the decision to pursue complementary and alternative treatments and whether or not you plan to use them in the future. I have an interview guide that we will use to help organize the interview, but this is only a guide, and please feel free to add any information you think might be relevant. We will use the data we collect here to later come up with questions that will be part of a nation-wide survey examining complementary and Alternative Medicine use.

Okay? Do you have any questions before we start? If yes, answer questions. If no, let’s get started.

Questions that may be used as starting points for the qualitative interview

1. Do you participate, or have you ever participated, in any of the following practices for your health? (Check all that apply.)

• Acupuncture

• Ayurveda

• Biofeedback

• Chelation therapy

• Energy healing

• Homeopathy

• Chiropractic care

• Folk medicine

• Hypnosis

• Imagery

• Massage

• Movement therapy

• Naturopathy

• Prayer

• Traditional Latino medicines

• Qi gong

• Spiritual healing

• Self-help groups

• Special diets (e.g., macrobiotic, Atkins, Ornish, South Beach)

• Tai chi

• Yoga

• Relaxation techniques (e.g., meditation)

From here on the qualitative interview will focus on the areas of interest and thematic concerns listed in the “note to reviewers” above.

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