Purpose: To explore why Alaskans choose to pursue complementary medicine as a health care option.
Design: Qualitative descriptive.
Method: A purposive convenient recruitment methodology was used to recruit project participants. Focus groups were conducted to collect the research data.
Findings: Five themes were identified that highlighted why participants use complementary medicine: dissatisfaction, effective, holistic, relationship focused, and a personal journey.
Keywords: alternative medicine; complementary medicine; holistic; homeopathic; integrative medicine; nutrition; patient focused.
© The Author(s) 2015.