Validation of the Korean Integrative Medicine Attitude Questionnaire (IMAQ)

To develop a Korean version of the Integrative Medicine Attitude Questionnaire (IMAQ) in order to evaluate physician attitudes toward integrative medicine/complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

We developed a Korean IMAQ through careful translation of the 28-item questionnaire developed by Schmidt et al. A web-based survey was sent via email to 118 primary care physicians in Korea. The complete respose rate wasa 52.5%. The questionnaire's reliability and validity were verified using Cronbach's α, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis.

Although the Korean IMAQ exhibited excellent internal consistency, its validity was insufficient. Our results suggest that Western and Korean physicians may have different understandings of CAM and the concept of holism, as factor analysis showed that incorrectly classified items were mainly part of the holism conceptual domain. Furthermore, the sum of the items within the holism conceptual domain was not significantly different for physicians who had previously received CAM education.

This study developed and tested the first Korean IMAQ. We found that this version of the questionnaire lacks sufficient validity and requires further modification.