NOTE: This is an article that was published several years ago in a print periodical, Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources, published by the Office of the University of Wisconsin System Women's Studies Librarian.We are leaving it up as a record of what was published and for ongoing use. It will not be updated. It is likely that some of the links no longer work. For pages maintained by the librarian, visit the Women's Studies Librarian's website.

World Wide Web Review

[From Feminist Collections, vol.21, no.3 (Spring 2000)]

A Look at Women's Health on Alternative Medicine Websites

by Ann Boyer

With interest in alternative and complementary medicine growing yearly, one can now find thousands of websites addressing this topic. True, it's more difficult to turn up sites focusing exclusively on women's health issues - and those one does find are often geared to selling a product. Yet websites of a primarily informational nature do exist. In the sampling below, I've tried to include sites of integrity, that show responsibility in the way they present information, and that lead the user to additional useful pages.

MEGASITES

Readers should keep in mind that while some megasites offer original information, others do not, but rather present a well-organized collection of links to sites that do.

ASK NOAH About: Alternative (Complementary) Medicine
URL: http://www.noah.cuny.edu/alternative/alternative.html
Maintained by: Robert Lesner
Last update: August 27, 1999
Reviewed: January 17, 2000

Page author Robert Lesner prefaces ASK NOAH with a statement that is worth repeating: "The therapies discussed on this page are by definition alternatives to, or outside the scope of, generally accepted medical standards of care. The effectiveness of some of these treatments has been proven by scientific evidence, while limited or no research data exists to support other treatments. In 1993, through Congressional mandate, the National Institutes of Health established an Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) to acknowledge other treatment possibilities. In the same spirit, without endorsement, NOAH offers this selection of alternative/complementary therapies." ASK NOAH is organized into three sections. Alternative Healing Approaches lists links to fourteen different alternative therapies, from Acupuncture to Reflexology. Each therapy offers a goodly selection of links, logically arranged. The Resources section includes categories such as: Education, Find a Doctor, Online Journals, Government Resources, and Veterinary Medicine. A third section, Health Conditions and Concerns, presents links to each of twenty or so individual health conditions, including AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety and depression, arthritis, cancer, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, headache, pregnancy, and women's health. This is a thoughtfully designed page, one of the best megasites I found.

Readers might also want to look at The Alternative Medicine HomePage (http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html). This page is maintained by Charles B.Wessel at Falk Library of the Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. Although not specifically geared to women, it provides good information on many conditions affecting women.

The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Women's Health Information Resources
URL: http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/rosenthal/Women.html
Maintained by: Jackie Wootton
Last update: January, 2000
Reviewed: January 16, 2000

This website is one of the largest and most complete to be found on this subject. The Center is part of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Here are some examples of the research sponsored by the Center:

Clinical Studies: Menopausal hot flashes: effect of Chinese herbal preparations; Ethnobotany in the urban environment: herbal therapies for women's health

Surveys: Complementary and alternative medicine use by African-American and Hispanic women

Literature Reviews: Breast cancer studies where alternative/complementary therapies were used

The Rosenthal Center site is worth spending some time with. It includes extensive links to women's health information resources such as online journals, professional associations, research and clinical trials listings, and to sites focusing on a number of specific women's health topics. As with many complementary and alternative medicine web-sites, links are included to conventional-medicine pages as well.

Women's Health Interactive: Natural Health Center
URL: http://www.womens-health.com/health_center/naturalhealth/index.html
Maintained by: Marilyn Hodge
Last update: January 7, 2000
Reviewed: January 17, 2000

This is part of the megasite Women's Health Interactive. More than either of the sites discussed above, it focuses on natural therapies for women's health problems. The site contains much information presented in a manner intended to educate. The sponsoring company (of the same name) designs and develops educational materials and does strategic planning of healthcare communications, instructional design of distance-learning modules, and web page design. This page is an effective advertisment for their services. There are several sections: Three Types of Natural Therapy explains how homeopathy, herbal medicine and nutritional supplementation can be used to treat specific problems of women. Natural Therapy for You discusses the role of individual natural therapies in treating many different conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, infertility, migraine, perimenopausal symptoms, and heart disease. The site also includes an FAQ and a national directory of woman-centered service providers. There are disclaimers regarding many of the therapies discussed, and reminders for women to consult their physicians before using herbal therapies. The site is carefully done, and maintains a friendly, helpful tone.

ACADEMIC SITES

Bastyr University Cancer Research Center
URL: http://www.bastyr.edu/research/bucrc/
Maintained by: Rupert Berk
Last update: December 2, 1999
Reviewed: January 16, 2000

Bastyr University, located outside Seattle, Washington, specializes in the study of natural healing. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs. In addition to its curriculum it operates a research institute and the largest natural health clinic in the state of Washington. The Cancer Research Center, established in February 1997, is part of the university's research institute. At present it is conducting several studies on cancer in women. These include: survey of North American naturopathic physicians who treat women with breast cancer; taxol as a promising high dilutional chemotherapeutic agent in treatment of breast cancer; controlled trial of garlic in advanced breast cancer; use of alternative medicine by cancer patients; and a naturopathic medical treatment of breast cancer, an evolving treatment manual.

Reports on these studies are available at the website. Another academic site describing research on alternative therapies is the Center for Alternative Medicine Research in Cancer, at the University of Texas-Houston (http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/utcam/ ). [Note: no longer functioning -- site refers visitors to the National Center for Complementary/Alternative Medicine at NIH.] Both it and Bastyr were among the eleven institutions whose research was sponsored by the NIH Center at the time of this writing.

WOMEN'S CLINIC SITES

Women To Women
URL: http://www.womentowomen.com/index.htm
Maintained by: Carolyn Andres
Last update: monthly updates
Reviewed: January 17, 2000

This appealing site is sponsored by Women to Women, a health clinic in Yarmouth, Maine, founded by Dr. Marcelle Pick and Dr. Christiane Northrup, whose programs appear on PBS. The clinic offers medical, nutritional, and alternative approaches to women's health problems. Although considerable space is devoted to promoting the various videos and other items produced by the clinic's staff, useful sections can be found on the following topics: understanding the causes of breast pain, intestinal bloating, and information on natural hormones. A good collection of links rounds out the offerings. This site takes a very positive approach and radiates energy. A related site is Feminist Women's Health Center(http://www.fwhc.org/), based in Yakima, Washington. Although the focus of this site is reproductive choice, there is also material on such topics as yeast infections, menopause, and the relationship of organochlorines to breast cancer. It is also important to note that the National Women's Health Network offers, among its large array of other women-centered health information, some items on alternative health care via its website: http://www.womenshealthnetwork.org/Clearinghouse/altmed.htm (although most information must be ordered).

PERSONAL/ACTIVIST SITES

AnnieAppleseed Project
URL: http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/annieappleseedproject/index.html
Maintained by: Ann Fonfa
Last update: weekly updates
Reviewed: January 17, 2000

This is the page of a breast-cancer patient and activist, Ann Fonfa. A fairly extensive site geared towards cancer patients, it "acts to spread news, views and information about access to alternative cancer therapies." The introduction continues: "The contributors of the various reports are primarily patients. . . . Patients need to know how to make valid choices now. We offer no obvious answers but many possibilities. If it has worked for someone else, it may work for you." This is the most extreme of any of the pages reviewed here; it's a good example of a very personal site. The various sections include studies that help explain the value of natural and nontoxic substances, explore multicultural issues, summarize meetings/advocacy issues, and discuss specific alternative treatments from the patient's perspective. Ms. Fonfa stresses that she is not a doctor and has no medical training. She is very committed to this issue, and her intensity comes through in her well-done website.

MAGAZINE-FORMAT SITES

Menopause Online
URL: http://www.menopause-online.com/
Maintained by: Innovative Internet Marketing Solutions, Michael O'Reilly M.D.
Last update: Updated daily
Reviewed: January 17, 2000

The magazine format of this engaging page includes many features that make it fun to explore. Various sections cover treatments, vitamins and herbal remedies, the last offering descriptions of some twenty different herbs. Online discussions are featured in the chat room, with guest speakers. Articles on the page include Holistic Healing: Focusing and Menopause, Reiki: Relief for Menopausal Symptoms, and Progesterone: Natural or Synthetic? One section focuses on insomnia and its treatments, both conventional and herbal, and another on migraine headache. Recipes are offered for soy foods to help prevent hot flashes. Truly holistic in approach, this website seamlessly combines discussions of conventional medical therapies with discussions of alternative ones. The editors and editorial board include several M.Ds. A medical disclaimer is included.

SUMMARY

This review has touched on some of the major types of websites the author found on this topic, but it is not exhaustive. Readers who take the time to explore the Web's dynamic environment will undoubtedly discover their own favorite sites.

[Ann Boyer, M.A., M.L.S., spent ten years as a Reference Librarian at the Health Science Library of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She maintained the Women's Health and Alternative/Complementary Medicine sections of the HealthWeb megasite, a collaboration among medical school librarians to offer pointers to websites of quality. The URL for the Alternative/Complementary Medicine page is :http://www.medsch.wisc.edu/chslib/hw/altmed/ Ms. Boyer recently retired.]

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