The natural and the pharmacological: patterns of therapeutic consumption in the Portuguese population
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25758/set.504Keywords:
Medications, Therapeutic pluralism, Pharmacologization, Risk perceptions, Information sourcesAbstract
In this article we identify patterns of therapeutic consumption, with the purpose of assessing an emerging pattern in modern societies, here designated as Therapeutic Pluralism, referring to the conjugated or alternated use of pharmacological and natural resources in the therapeutic trajectories of individuals. The empirical basis for this analysis stems from a concluded research on the topic and is focused on a questionnaire administered to a representative sample of the Portuguese population. The results show duality in therapeutic consumptions, expressed in the coexistence of a dominant pattern of Pharmacologism – that is, the exclusive therapeutic consumption of pharmaceuticals – and a growing trend towards therapeutic pluralism. The effects of information sources on health and its lay use, as well as of the social perceptions of risk concerning the natural and the pharmacological, constitute key analytical references for this study’s interpretation of the identified patterns.
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