Support for non-conventional medicine in Israel: cognitive and sociological coherence

This study investigated patterns of beliefs concerning CAM (complementary/alternative medicine) in 403 subjects in Israel. Multidimensional scaling and generalised linear model analyses of their answers to a questionnaire evidenced two sources of organising factors: (1). commitment to CAM approaches and techniques is dependent on the specific approach, and this differentiation may be related to corresponding explanatory principles such as powerful action, healthy living, and fighting stress; and (2). broad support for CAM in general, correlated with New Age ideological cultural themes (ecology, the paranormal, Eastern wisdom) which share an underlying framework of demedicalisation. It did not prove possible to cluster respondents into types, and factor analysis uncovered but a single factor. This suggests that subjects combine the organising factors in a pragmatic blend, a finding congruent with a postmodern interpretation that emphasises the blending of high and low, ideological and practical.