Little research has considered older adults’ health beliefs related to the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Based on a conceptual model of health selfmanagement, this analysis delineates health beliefs and behaviors related to CAM use among community-dwelling rural elders. In-depth interviews were conducted with 145 female and male African Americans, Native Americans, and Whites aged 70 and older residing in two rural, central North Carolina counties. CAM therapies are widely used but are largely limited to folk and home remedies and vitamin and mineral supplements. These rural elders integrate CAM use with conventional health care, and they are concerned that remedies they use not interfere with prescribed conventional treatment. They justify CAM use in terms of advice from their physician or nurse or from published sources. Most rural elders state that their knowledge of CAM therapies is limited.
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