Implementation, access and use of integrative and complementary practices in the unified health system: a literature review

In Brazil, the Integrative and Complementary Practices (ICP) achieved greater visibility after the establishment of the National Integrative and Complementary Practices Policy (NICPP) in 2006. However, there are still gaps in the general setting of these practices. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the implementation, access and use of ICPs in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) after the establishment of this policy. We performed an integrative literature review, guided by the question: "What is the current setting of implementation, access and use of ICPs within the SUS?", in the Virtual Health Library (BVS), the U.S. National Library of Medicine and in the Web of Science, with descriptors "Sistema Único de Saúde" / "Unified Health System" AND "Terapias Complementares" / "Complementary Therapies". The analysis of papers gave rise to four categories for discussion: "The ICP approach in the SUS: main practices used"; "Access to ICPs: Primary Health Care as a gateway"; "Current implementation scenario of ICPs: the preparation of health services and professionals for to implement ICPs"; "Main advances in the use of ICPs and future challenges". We have observed that ICPs are bashfully offered and that data available are scarce, despite the positive impacts on users and services that have embraced their use.