Vaihtoehtoinen terveydenhuolto hyvinvointivaltion terveysmarkkinoilla

Abstract

Alternative medicine has become visible, when the welfare state has reached its maturity and is getting into a crisis. It can be seen to reflect this process. This study includes seven original studies published earlier as separate articles and a summary as well as two appendices on the beliefsystems and the legal status of alternative medicine. The aim of the study was 1) to discover how alternative medicine is used and socially determined 2) to describe its cultural structure and 3) to analyse its role and functions in the welfare state especially in Finland 4) to explain alternative medicine as a representation of the health discourse in the welfare state. The methods used were two surveys with structured questionnaires, two interviews and a qualitative content analysis. The study shows that people use alternative medicine commonly and the use pattern is rather complementary than alternative. People are able to combine different official and unofficial treatments. The most frequently used treatments were herbal drugs, massage and different paramedical physical treatments. Usage of alternative medicine was determined by female sex and multidimensional ill health. Also, the study suggests that there are two different types of health cultures: modern alternative in urban areas and folk medicine in rural areas. Alternative medicine mainly operates in symbolic area, it gives explanations and meanings as well as coping methods in ill health. It includes parts of biomedical model, however, it also counteracts towards scientific medicine. In spite of great variation there are shared ideas: holism (mind body) naturalism, vitalism and purity. Alternative medicine is able to operate in natural and supernatural world. It is attempting to hold its privacy and to escape the role of social control agent in the private territory. It is satisfying the demands on the post-modern health markets. The crucial question in the future is whether alternative medicine is able to create freedom and strengthen autonomy of individuals or whether it exploits individuals by using symbolic manipulation.