ABSTRACT
Health information has proliferated via the Internet over the last decade and patients are increasingly able to access a multitude of biomedical and nonbiomedical knowledges about health, illness and the body. Studies are now showing that patients, and cancer patients in particular, regularly use the Internet to collect information and make treatment decisions (e.g. Chen and Siu, 2001). As a result, medical sociologists have, in recent years, examined the significance and impact of the Internet within the context of healthcare, resulting in a considerable body of work addressing the potential implications for patients, clinicians and the structure of healthcare delivery (e.g. Anderson et al., 2003; Broom, 2005; Broom, 2005a; Burrows et al., 2000; Hardey, 1999, 2002; Nettleton et al., 2005; Seale, 2005; Sharf, 1997; Ziebland, 2004; Zeibland et al., 2004). However, hitherto there has been no sociological research examining the impact of the Internet within the context of cancer patients’ utilisation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
