Access and Utilization of CAM by Minorities

描述（由申请人提供）：近年来，美国补充和替代医学（CAM）的使用大幅增加，并且在少数民族/种族群体中存在显着的CAM使用差异。辅助治疗的使用越来越多，以前与一些因素有关，如需要在医疗保健使用方面赋予个人权力，以及辅助治疗与患者的个人信仰、精神和价值观之间的哲学一致性。然而，辅助辅助治疗的使用也可能与少数亚人群在医疗保健系统中的具体经历以及他们在其他国家和/或美国不同文化中使用辅助辅助治疗的经历有关。本研究的目的是描述不同种族和民族群体使用不同辅助辅助治疗的特征，并研究这些使用率差异是如何产生的。中心假设是，不同种族和民族群体在辅助医学使用和辅助医学有效性方面的差异是由社会经济地位、传统医疗系统的个人经历、传统医疗的获取/成本、种族/民族特定的文化信仰、辅助医学立法/监管以及个人对传统医学可以有效改善健康的信念所驱动的。提出的研究的具体目的是：分析种族/少数民族亚人群中CAM的使用和感知有效性；确定传统医学的成本与不同种族/族裔群体间CAM使用差异之间的关系；并通过保险状况和基于州的监管措施来描述种族/民族特定的CAM使用模式。2002年全国健康访谈调查的数据将用于调查不同种族/少数民族亚人群在辅助治疗使用方面的差异。将估计逻辑和计数数据模型，以评估与辅助医疗利用和不同辅助医疗模式的感知有效性相关的因素。结果将用于开发可测试的假设，关于种族/少数民族群体成员使用特定CAM疗法的机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the U.S. has increased substantially in recent years and there are significant CAM utilization differences across ethnic/racial minority groups. The increasing use of CAM has been previously linked to factors such as the need for individual empowerment over healthcare use and the philosophical congruence between CAM and personal beliefs, spirituality and values of patients. However, CAM use may also be related to minority subpopulation-specific experiences with the healthcare system and their prior experiences with CAM in other countries and/or with different cultures in the U.S. The objective of the proposed research is to characterize the use of different CAM therapies among racial and ethnic groups and to study how these differences in utilization rates arise. The central hypothesis is that differences in CAM use and the effectiveness of CAM across different racial and ethnic groups are driven by socioeconomic status, personal experiences with the conventional healthcare system, access/cost of conventional healthcare, race/ethnic-specific cultural beliefs, CAM legislation/regulation and personal beliefs as to what conventional medicine can effectively accomplish to improve health. The specific aims of the proposed research are: to analyze CAM utilization and perceived effectiveness across racial/ethnic minority subpopulations; to determine how the cost of conventional medicine is related to CAM use differences across racial/ethnic groups; and to characterize race/ethnic- specific patterns of CAM use by insurance status and state-based regulatory measures. Data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey will be used to investigate the differences in CAM use across different racial/ethnic minority subpopulations. Logistic and count data models will be estimated to assess the factors that are related to CAM utilization and the perceived effectiveness of the different modalities of CAM. Results will be used to develop testable hypotheses regarding the mechanisms underlying the usage of specific CAM therapies by members of racial/ethnic minority groups.