Managing Safety and Risk: The Experiences of People with Parkinson’s Disease who Use Alternative and Complementary Therapies

Abstract

In this article I focus on how individuals living with Parkinson’s disease manage safety and risk in their participation in alternative and complementary health care. I take a qualitative approach in this research, using semi-structured interviews and grounded theory techniques as means of generating and analysing data. My analysis centres on how these informants construct certain therapies as risk free and therefore safe, and others as risky and thus, inherently unsafe. I discuss the knowledge bases these informants draw on in their evaluations and describe the social contexts in which these assessments take place. While there is a substantial literature on risk in general, as well as the risk society, there has been less interest in micro-level analysis of risk. This article therefore contributes to knowledge through its focus on management of safety and risk in individuals’ health-seeking behaviour.