CLINICAL RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Please note: All posters will be displayed in
Salons 10-12.
FRIDAY, 10:15-11:00 AM
Toupin AK, Ehrmann Feldman D, Zunzunegui MV, Descarreaux
M, Duffy C.
Types of complementary and alternative health care used
by children with various physical disabilities and perceived effectiveness.
Université de Montréal k.toupin.april@umontreal.ca
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to determine which types
of complementary and alternative health care (CAHC) were mostly used
by children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other physical disabilities
and to evaluate which were the most beneficial from the parents' points
of view.
METHODS: A cohort of children with juvenile
idiopathic arthritis (n=182, mean age: 9.8 years) who attended out-patient
clinics and a cohort of children with various physical disabilities
(n=224, mean age: 2.6 years) who were referred to rehabilitation were
followed for one year. We evaluated the use of CAHC at baseline and
its effectiveness from the parents' points of view using descriptive
statistics.
RESULTS : Use of CAHC for the first three months
of the study were 16.2% for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
and 17.4% for children with physical disabilities. Types of CAHC that
were mostly used in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis were
naturopathy, homeopathy and special diets. According to the parents'
perceptions, most types of CAHC showed only a slight improvement except
osteopathy which was perceived as moderately beneficial. For children
with physical disabilities, the most used treatments were osteopathy,
chiropractic and homeopathy and parents perceived moderate improvement,
especially with naturopathy and acupuncture.
CONCLUSION: The more frequently used types of
CAHC were different in the two cohorts. They were also perceived to
be more beneficial by parents of children with physical disabilities
than parents of children with juvenile arthritis.
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