Predictors of the use and approval of CAM: results from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS)

Abstract

Background: Many studies have shown that sociodemographic variables significantly predict the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), although these predictions were not particularly strong. A multitude of predictors of the use or approval of CAM have been investigated in the field of personal values and worldviews, but the effects were small or doubtful due to non-representative samples. More recent psychological research has linked positive attitudes towards CAM with intuitive thinking, paranormal beliefs, ontological confusions and magical health beliefs, suggesting a common thinking style behind all these variables. The aim of this study is to identify the most important predictors of the use and approval of CAM. Methods: We performed a canonical correlation analysis on all 3480 records from the 2012 German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) with the lifetime use and opinion of CAM as the dependent variables. Results: Approval of paranormal practices such as fortune-telling, dowsing or spiritualism explained 32% of the variance in the dependent canonical variate "approval of CAM", while sociodemographic variables explained only 2%. Experience with paranormal practices explained 17% of the variance in the dependent canonical variate "experience with CAM", and sociodemographic variables explained 10% of the variance. Traditional religiosity, attitudes towards science and post-materialist values showed no relevant correlations with the dependent canonical variates. Conclusions: Paranormal beliefs and related measures are the most important known predictors of the use and approval of CAM. Experience with paranormal practices not only indicates paranormal beliefs but also explains experience with CAM that cannot be explained by approval of CAM. Female gender and higher socioeconomic status predict experience with CAM without predicting approval of CAM, but their influence should not be overstated.

Prevalence, specific and non-specific determinants of complementary medicine use in Switzerland: Data from the 2017 Swiss Health Survey

“…In accordance with most studies investigating the determinants of CM use, we found that sociodemographic determinants such as female gender, being middle-aged, and higher levels of education were associated with CM use [ 4 , 7 , 9 , 12 , 15 – 17 , 21 , 24 – 30 ].…”

“…Use of CM was shown to be associated with sociodemographic and health-related determinants. Sociodemographic determinants included female gender, being middle-aged, higher levels of education, and income, while health-related determinants included poor self-reported health, chronic disease, and serious illness [ 4 , 7 , 9 , 12 , 15 – 17 , 21 , 24 – 30 ]. However, many existing CM studies did not investigate CM use according to the different CM therapies, which makes interpretation of the results difficult [ 21 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…Sociodemographic determinants included female gender, being middle-aged, higher levels of education, and income, while health-related determinants included poor self-reported health, chronic disease, and serious illness [ 4 , 7 , 9 , 12 , 15 – 17 , 21 , 24 – 30 ]. However, many existing CM studies did not investigate CM use according to the different CM therapies, which makes interpretation of the results difficult [ 21 , 31 , 32 ]. Furthermore, the above-mentioned determinants do not appear to be clearly specific to CM use and might be also associated with consultation of conventional health practitioners [ 32 ].…”

Psychological determinants of the use of complementary and alternative medicine – CAM

“…Zwolennicy CAM częściej deklarują bycie osobą religijną bądź uduchowioną; częściej deklarują one także pogłębione życie duchowe bez przynależności do konkretnego systemu religijnego bądź akcentują jako ważne pozaformalne i pozainstytucjonalne aspekty życia religijnego [28,[53][54][55].…”

Thinking magically or thinking scientifically: Cognitive and belief predictors of complementary and alternative medicine use in women with and without cancer diagnosis

“…Over the last decades, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown in popularity among healthy populations (Abheiden et al, 2020) and patients with various diseases (Buckner et al, 2018). Complementary and alternative medicine can be de ned as a group of medical and healthcare treatments, products, and practices that are not considered as a part of conventional medicine (Fouladbakhsh & Stommel, 2008).…”