HOW TO CHOOSE AMONG DIFFERENT THERAPEUTIC OPTIONS? PATIENTS’ REGISTERS OF VALUING IN MEDIATING BETWEEN HOMEOPATHY AND BIOMEDICINE
HOW TO CHOOSE AMONG DIFFERENT THERAPEUTIC OPTIONS? PATIENTS’ REGISTERS OF VALUING IN MEDIATING BETWEEN HOMEOPATHY AND BIOMEDICINE

Summary/Abstract: This article examines how patients who undergo biomedical and homeopathic forms of therapy value medical care and treatment. Based on an analysis of semistructured interviews, four registers of valuing through which respondents talk about good or bad medical care and treatment are identified, constructing an analytical framework useful in describing how patients choose among or combine different therapeutic options. It is argued that in choosing and in talking about their options, patients accomplish valuing work, continuously evaluating and giving value to medical care and treatment by employing criteria that include efficacy, professional competence, communication and a suspicion of monetary interests. These four registers of valuing set homeopathy and biomedicine in a relationship that simultaneously involves contrast, succession, and continuity. Patients employ registers of valuing to justify their choices as reasonable, simultaneously pragmatic and oriented around a half-articulated philosophy of gentle healing.

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