How and why patients use acupuncture: an interpretive phenomenological study.

Introduction: The usual drivers of health care provision, namely efficacy and cost, might be expected to drive down the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAMs), given the relative paucity of evidence of efficacy for many CAMs. Usage of CAMs remains extensive and little attention has been given to explaining this paradox. This paper explores how patients integrate acupuncture, as a CAMs exemplar, within their personal schemes of health care.

A qualitative systematic review of patients' experiences of acupuncture.

Objectives: To present the results of a systematic review of studies on acupuncture patients' health beliefs and treatment experiences.

Search Strategy: The search was conducted using CINAHL, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, and PsychINFO for qualitative and mixed-methods studies expressing the voice of acupuncture patients. Reference lists of relevant articles were also searched.