Who is willing to use complementary and alternative medicine?

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Psychology
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is widespread, yet individual factors influencing willingness to use these therapies remain underexplored.
• Understanding these differences is crucial for personalized healthcare and effective patient communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify individual differences associated with the willingness to use various complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities.
• To examine the predictive power of personality, spirituality, and emotional intelligence on CAM utilization.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire assessed willingness to use 16 types of CAM across six categories in 276 diverse undergraduate students.
• Correlation and multiple regression analyses examined relationships between individual differences (age, gender, ethnicity, Big Five, optimism, spirituality, religiosity, emotional intelligence) and CAM willingness.

Main Results:

• Individual differences explained approximately 20% of the variance in overall willingness to use CAM.
• Openness to experience, spirituality, and mood attention were the strongest predictors of overall CAM willingness.
• Specific ethnicities and demographics showed differential willingness for certain CAM practices (e.g., Hispanic ethnicity and curanderismo).

Conclusions:

• Personality traits, spiritual beliefs, and emotional intelligence significantly influence the likelihood of using CAM.
• Demographic factors like ethnicity and gender also play a role in the adoption of specific CAM therapies.
• These findings highlight the importance of considering individual characteristics in the context of CAM use.