背景:补充和替代(CAM)癌症治疗通常很昂贵,并且不在保险范围内。因此,许多人转向众筹来获得这种治疗。
目的:这项研究的目的是通过专门研究支持蒂华纳CAM癌症治疗的众筹活动,来确定在国外寻求CAM治疗的癌症患者的理由。墨西哥。
方法:我们刮了GoFundMe.com和GiveSendGo.com众筹平台,以开展参考蒂华纳CAM癌症诊所的活动,始于2022年1月1日至2023年2月28日。作者创建了一个编码框架,以确定在蒂华纳寻求CAM治疗的理由。要补充市场活动元数据,我们编码了受益人的癌症阶段,type,年龄,寻求特定治疗,受益人是否死了,性别,和种族。
结果:患者在蒂华纳寻求CAM癌症治疗,因为(1)治疗提供了最大的疗效(29.9%);(2)国内提供的治疗不是治愈的(23.2%);(3)诊所治疗整个人,并解决了人的精神层面(20.1%);(4)治疗是无毒的,自然,或侵入性较小(18.2%);(5)诊所提供最新技术(8.5%)。运动筹集了5,275,268.37美元,大多数运动受益者是妇女(69.7%)或白人(71.1%)。
结论:这些运动传播了关于CAM治疗可能疗效的有问题的错误信息,向蒂华纳的CAM诊所提供资金和代言,让许多活动家缺乏支付CAM治疗所需的资金,同时花费受益人和他们所爱的人的时间,隐私,和尊严。这项研究证实了蒂华纳,墨西哥,是CAM癌症治疗的一个非常受欢迎的目的地。
BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative (CAM) cancer treatment is often expensive and not covered by insurance. As a result, many people turn to crowdfunding to access this treatment.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to identify the rationales of patients with cancer seeking CAM treatment abroad by looking specifically at crowdfunding campaigns to support CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana, Mexico.
METHODS: We scraped the GoFundMe.com and GiveSendGo.com crowdfunding platforms for campaigns referencing CAM cancer clinics in Tijuana, initiated between January 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. The authors created a coding framework to identify rationales for seeking CAM treatment in Tijuana. To supplement campaign metadata, we coded the beneficiary\'s cancer stage, type, age, specific treatment sought, whether the beneficiary died, gender, and race.
RESULTS: Patients sought CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana because the (1) treatment offers the greatest efficacy (29.9%); (2) treatment offered domestically was not curative (23.2%); (3) the clinic treats the whole person, and addresses the spiritual dimension of the person (20.1%); (4) treatments are nontoxic, natural, or less invasive (18.2%); and (5) clinic offers the newest technology (8.5%). Campaigns raised US $5,275,268.37 and most campaign beneficiaries were women (69.7%) or White individuals (71.1%).
CONCLUSIONS: These campaigns spread problematic misinformation about the likely efficacy of CAM treatments, funnel money and endorsements to CAM clinics in Tijuana, and leave many campaigners short of the money needed to pay for CAM treatments while costing beneficiaries and their loved one\'s time, privacy, and dignity. This study affirms that Tijuana, Mexico, is a very popular destination for CAM cancer treatment.