Expanding vocabularies for complementary and alternative medicine therapies.

Objective: There is a significant consumer demand for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies as possible alternatives to drugs in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. Expanding controlled vocabularies to include CAM treatment relations could help meet those needs by facilitating information retrieval from the published literature. The purpose of this study is to design and evaluate two methods to semi-automatically extract CAM treatment-related semantic predications (subject-predicate-object triplets) from the biomedical literature using the Semantic Medline database (SemMedDB).

Understanding cancer survivors' information needs and information-seeking behaviors for complementary and alternative medicine from short- to long-term survival: a mixed-methods study.

Objective: The research examined complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) information-seeking behaviors and preferences from short- to long-term cancer survival, including goals, motivations, and information sources.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used with cancer survivors from the "Assessment of Patients' Experience with Cancer Care" 2004 cohort. Data collection included a mail survey and phone interviews using the critical incident technique (CIT).

Information needs of physicians, care coordinators, and families to support care coordination of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).

Objectives: Identify and describe information needs and associated goals of physicians, care coordinators, and families related to coordinating care for medically complex children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).

Materials And Methods: We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with physicians, care coordinators, and parents of CYSHCN following the Critical Decision Method technique. We analyzed the interviews for information needs posed as questions using a systematic content analysis approach and categorized the questions into information need goal types and subtypes.

Completeness, accuracy, and presentation of information on interactions between prescription drugs and alternative medicines: an internet review.

Background: As the use of the Internet continues to increase across all age groups and education levels, with usage in the US around 78%, consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for health related information.

Objective: To assess the completeness, accuracy, and consumer friendliness of information on the Internet pertaining to drug-Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) interactions with cardiac drugs.

Methods: A review of online information was performed across three search engines and ten drug-CAM pairs.