Why do patients turn to complementary medicine? An empirical study
Why do patients turn to complementary medicine? An empirical study
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DOI：
10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01160.x
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发表时间：
1996-02-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Furnham, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Vincent, C;Furnham, A
来自三种补充医学实践——针灸、整骨疗法和顺势疗法——的250多名患者完成了一份调查问卷，对寻求补充治疗的20个潜在原因进行了评分。最被强烈支持的原因是“因为我重视对待整个人”；“因为我相信辅助疗法对我的问题会比传统医学更有效”；“因为我相信补充医学能让我更积极地参与到保持健康中来”；“因为正统疗法对我的特殊问题无效”。确定了五个因素，按重要性排序：对补充治疗的积极评价，对其投诉的正统治疗无效，对正统医学不利影响的关注，对与医生沟通的关注，以及不太重要的补充医学的可用性。组间比较，采用协方差分析控制三个患者组间的人口统计学差异。整骨疗法患者的原因表明，他们最不关心传统医学的副作用，而最受整骨疗法的影响。顺势疗法患者最强烈地受到传统医学对其投诉无效的影响，这一事实在很大程度上是由于他们的投诉的长期性。本文就该领域有限的研究成果进行了讨论。未来的研究应将开始辅助治疗的原因与继续辅助治疗的原因分开。例如，正统医学的失败可能是寻求补充治疗的最强烈动机，但一旦经历了治疗，其他更积极的因素就变得更重要。
Over 250 patients from three complementary medicine practices-acupuncture, osteopathy and homoeopathy-completed a questionnaire rating 20 potential reasons for seeking complementary treatment. The reasons that were most strongly endorsed were 'because I value the emphasis on treating the whole person'; 'because I believe complementary therapy will be more effective for my problem than orthodox medicine'; 'because I believe that complementary medicine will enable me to take a more active part in maintaining my health'; and 'because orthodox treatment was not effective for my particular problem'.Five factors were identified, in order of importance: a positive valuation of complementary treatment, the ineffectiveness of orthodox treatment for their complaint, concern about the adverse effects of orthodox medicine, concerns about communication with doctors and, of less importance, the availability of complementary medicine. Groups were compared, using analysis of covariance to control for demographic differences between the three patient groups.Osteopathy patients' reasons indicated they were least concerned about the side effects of orthodox medicine and most influenced by the availability of osteopathy for their complaints. Homoeopathy patients were most strongly influenced by the ineffectiveness of orthodox medicine for their complaints, a fact which was largely accounted for by the chronicity of their complaints. Results are discussed in terms of the limited research in this area. Future studies should separate the reasons for beginning complementary treatment from the reasons for continuing it. It is possible, for instance, that the failure of orthodox medicine is the strongest motive for seeking complementary treatment but that, once treatment has been experienced, other more positive factors become more important.