The Experiences of Patients Seeking Alternative Therapies for Chronic Liver Disease: The Process of Jagi Momdasrim

Son, Haeng Mi; Suh, Moon Ja

Abstract

In Korea, most of the patients with chronic liver diseases have been using some kind of alternative therapies at home. however, the question is why do people turn to alternative therapy and how the patients are able to use the alternative therapies widely, though the effects have not been proven scientifically. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the process of the patients' experiences using the alternative therapies. The 16 participants were from internal- medical departments in hospital and the permission was received to participate in this study from the subjects. The data were collected with interviews and participants observations, analyzed by the grounded theory methodology of Strauss and Corbin(1990). With the analysis of the data, 15 categories were generated such as psychological pressures, barriers of role performances, distrusts of western medicine, blind obediences to the treatments, attitudes towards alternative therapies, supportive systems, obstacles to taking alternative therapies, financial burdens, collecting informations, pursuing alternative modalities, efforting diversities, analyzing by themselves, managing the body, accepting the disease, and ambivalence. The paradigm model was developed to identify the relationships of categories. The central phenomenon of the experiences of seeking alternative therapies was named jagi momdasrim. The central concept of jagi momdasrim is a mind-set to desire to wellness and to take more responsibility for one's own healing by pursuing alternate healing modalities rather than the western medical system. The process of jagi momdasrim evolved several stages such as seeking, finding, struggling, overcoming, fulfilling, and governing the diseases. Four patterns of taking alternative therapies were found as follows: the bulsin-chujong-hyung, the suyoung-hyung, the yangdari-gulchiki-hyung, the chamjae-hyung. In conclusion, the phenomenon of alternative therapies as consumer-driven force to heal the chronic liver diseases of the patients could be explained as an adaptive behavior through the process of jagi momdasrim. However, since most of the participants practicing some kind of alternative therapies had no evidences of its effects and never tried to consult with their medical doctors about alternative therapies, we should approach more actively. Therefore, it is recommended for nurses to listen and watch the patients behaviors of using alternative therapies and find out how to educate the patients about the proper and safe way to take the alternative therapies.