Perceptions of prototypical users of complementary and alternative medicine: a possible barrier to participation

Abstract

Background Interest and participation in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has steadily increased over the last decade. Research is needed to empirically explore beliefs about the characteristics of individuals who participate in CAM to determine the pervasiveness and generalisability of these opinions. Objective To explore the stereotype of the typical CAM user and how this construct may impact recruitment and retention in paediatric CAM research. Methods Parents and emerging adults were recruited using community sampling. Subjects responded to an electronic survey by judging likeliness to participate based on a series of demographic factors. From a total of 570 individuals who completed the survey, 209 responded to a vignette on acupuncture and 361 to a vignette on yoga. Results Taking the results together, it appears that the individual characteristics associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in CAM, or being stereotypical of a CAM user, were being white or Asian, female or homosexual male, highly educated, identifying as socially liberal and having a religious affiliation of Buddhist or Hindu. Conclusions It is important to understand how these factors may affect people's decisions to participate in CAM interventions and the potential implication for future research on the effectiveness of CAM therapies.

Cancer patients’ attitudes towards holistic complementary and alternative medicine in the management of sleep problems

“…In the form, socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital and economic levels; and disease-treatment features such as disease stage, treatment type and duration were questioned. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Richard Campbell sleep questionnaire (RCSQ) The Turkish validity and reliability of the scale were made by Ozlu and Ozer and consist of 6 items that evaluate the sleep depth, sleep latency, number of awakenings, efficiency (percentage of time awake), sleep quality and noise level of the environment. The 6th item evaluating the noise level of environment does not count in the calculation of the total score.…”

“…8 Patients apply to CAM use, especially when they think that they are not able to benefit from medical treatment sufficiently in chronic diseases. 9 Other reasons of CAM usage are how much patient is disturbed by the symptoms, the severity of the disease (such as cancer) and whether they perceive their health as a whole (mind, body and spirit in health). 10 Cancer is a life-threatening disease upon the stage of diagnosis.…”