Factors affecting the use of complementary and alternative medicine among Japanese university students
-
Yasuhiro Ujiie
and
Hiroki Okada
Abstract
Background: Patients suffering from intractable diseases and individuals seeking relief from mild symptoms resort to treatments outside the modern medical paradigm, such as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In order to improve doctor–patient communication about CAM, it is essential to evaluate CAM usage among social groups likely to choose it in the future. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate how university students – individuals highly subject to future CAM usage – perceive CAM and the factors affecting their choice of CAM use.
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey with 1,096 Japanese university students not studying medical subjects.
Results: The term CAM was known to 11% of the subjects. Modalities they most associated with CAM were art therapy (353 subjects), hot spring therapy (349), and aromatherapy (345). They had experience taking vitamins, trace elements, other supplements (498), and nutritional drinks (483). Several subjects wanted to experience shiatsu massage (373) and hot spring therapy (303). Multiple regression analysis of the modalities that the subjects wanted to experience revealed a 42% multiple coefficient of determination for prioritizing modalities that the subject associated with CAM, showing a large contribution of this deciding factor.
Conclusions: Although most subjects were not familiar with the term CAM, many of them had decided to ingest substances in the CAM category on the basis of self-judgment and without adequate knowledge. Because such behavior can be detrimental to health, medical professionals should be aware of CAM usage among their patients and seek effective communication with them in order to enable safe CAM practice.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the students who participated in the survey.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- An emphasis on molecular mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects and glucocorticoid resistance
- Preclinical Studies
- Endothelium nitric oxide-independent vasorelaxant effects of the aqueous extract from Stephania abyssinica on the isolated rat thoracic aorta
- Evidence of attenuation of intestinal ischemia–reperfusion injury following pre-treatment with methanolic extracts from Chromolena odorata in rats
- Comparative effects of Orchis anatolica vs. the red Korean Panax ginseng treatments on testicular structure and function of adult male mice
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- Clinical Studies
- Tolerability of the combination of ginger (Zingiber officinalis), gentian (Gentiana lutea) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) in patients with cancer-associated anorexia
- Effect of rhubarb (Rheum emodi) in primary dysmenorrhoea: a single-blind randomized controlled trial
- Integrating traditional medical practice with primary healthcare system in Eritrea
- Factors affecting the use of complementary and alternative medicine among Japanese university students
- Short Communication
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- Online Only: Congress Abstracts
- 2014 IN-CAM Research Symposium: The Next Wave of Complementary and Integrative Medicine and Health Care Research
