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Sociology
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The Dialectical Tension Between Individuation and Depersonalization in Cancer Patients' Mediation of Complementary, Alternative and Biomedical Cancer Treatments

Alex Broom

University of Newcastle, Australia, alexander.broom{at}newcastle.edu.au

Philip Tovey

University of Leeds, UK, p.a.tovey{at}leeds.ac.uk

Drawing on in-depth interviews with cancer patients, this article examines patients' perspectives on the nature of evidence and the degree to which different understandings of evidence inform decision-making about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and biomedical cancer treatments. Results illustrate the ways in which many cancer patients critically engage with questions about the nature of knowledge and the potential pitfalls of science.Their accounts can largely be characterized by a dialectical tension between individuation (espoused by many CAM therapies) and depersonalization (implicit in biomedical care); a tension mediated by individual cancer patient's prognosis and age. On the basis of the results we argue for a re-focusing of social theory to embrace an understanding of grass-roots ontological tensions seen in the experiences of individual cancer patients.The problematic nature of maintaining a narrowly defined `evidence-base' policy on CAM and cancer is also discussed in light of the data.

Key Words: cancer • complementary medicine • evidence-based medicine

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 6, 1021-1039 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038507082313
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