Background: Complementaty therapy embraces a broad spectrum of healing resources that lie outside the realm of traditional Western medicine. The philosophy of complementaty therapy is health promotion, disease prevention and holistic care. Rising general health consciousness has gradually increased the use of such therapies. Health professionals must enhance their understanding of issues related to complemetary therapy use. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the prevalence and types of complementary therapies as well as reason for adopting such therapies among community-dwelling adults in central Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to study a population of community-dwelling adults living in Changhua and Nantou Counties. Subjects from these two counties were selected at random from the public telephone directory (White Pages, published by Chunghwa Telecom). A structured questionnaire was used to collect data by phone. Data were then coded and analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Statistical medthods including frequency, percentage, mean and chi-square tests were used to answer research questions. Results: A sample of 289 subjects between 18-88 years of age participated in the study. Study results revealed that 86% of subjects had used at least one complementary therapy type during the previous one year period. The top three complemetary therapies used included folk therapy, exercise and nutrition supplements. The primary reason for using therapies was health promotion. Over a half of users did not voluntarily inform health care professionals of their complementary therapy use. Usage patterns differed significantly within groupings based on age, gender, education level, religion, occupation and Western medical therapies. Conclusions: Study results may provide health professionals with information necessary to understand complementary therapy usage trends better. Health professionals should pay much attention to the prevalence of use of complementary therapies and include complementary therapy use in their regular health assessment procedures.
Background: Complementaty therapy embraces a broad spectrum of healing resources that lie outside the realm of traditional Western medicine. The philosophy of complementaty therapy is health promotion, disease prevention and holistic care. Rising general health consciousness has gradually increased the use of such therapies. Health professionals must enhance their understanding of issues related to complemetary therapy use. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the prevalence and types of complementary therapies as well as reason for adopting such therapies among community-dwelling adults in central Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to study a population of community-dwelling adults living in Changhua and Nantou Counties. Subjects from these two counties were selected at random from the public telephone directory (White Pages, published by Chunghwa Telecom). A structured questionnaire was used to collect data by phone. Data were then coded and analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Statistical medthods including frequency, percentage, mean and chi-square tests were used to answer research questions. Results: A sample of 289 subjects between 18-88 years of age participated in the study. Study results revealed that 86% of subjects had used at least one complementary therapy type during the previous one year period. The top three complemetary therapies used included folk therapy, exercise and nutrition supplements. The primary reason for using therapies was health promotion. Over a half of users did not voluntarily inform health care professionals of their complementary therapy use. Usage patterns differed significantly within groupings based on age, gender, education level, religion, occupation and Western medical therapies. Conclusions: Study results may provide health professionals with information necessary to understand complementary therapy usage trends better. Health professionals should pay much attention to the prevalence of use of complementary therapies and include complementary therapy use in their regular health assessment procedures.
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