Complementary and Alternative Medical Practices: Training, Experience, and Attitudes of a Primary Care Medical School Faculty

Stephen M. Levine; Margaret L. Weber-Levine; Robert M. Mayberry

doi:10.3122/jabfm.16.4.318

Article Figures & Data

Tables

View popup

Table 1.

Percentage of Respondents with Demographic Characteristics, by Academic Degrees.

Demographic Characteristic	MD (n = 75)	PhD (n = 48)	Other Degree (n = 20)	Total (n = 143)
Sex, male	65	63	33	60
Age, years
<36	9	8	20	11
36–45	56	32	45	46
46–55	16	47	30	28
≥56	19	13	5	15
Ethnicity
African American	74	48	75	66
Asian	16	17	10	16
White	7	28	10	14
Other	3	7	5	4

Note: 143 responses were received from 200 questionnaires for a 72% response rate.

View popup

Table 2.

Percentage of Respondents Indicating Perceived Legitimacy of Alternative Therapies, and Amount of Training, and Expressed Interest in Training in These.

Alternative Medical Therapy	Legitimate Medical Practice	Amount of Training		Interest in Training
Alternative Medical Therapy	Legitimate Medical Practice	Some	A Lot, Advanced	Interest in Training
Nutrition and diet	96	46	28	32
Counseling or psychotherapy	94	34	23	11
Fitness and exercise	91	45	28	26
Emotional support groups	79	36	20	14
Biofeedback	73	28	4	29
Acupuncture	63	11	1	26
Herbal medicine	54	35	5	30
Massage therapy	54	17	4	21
Chiropractic	53	4	0	9
Hypnotherapy	52	14	4	10
Meditation	51	34	10	26
Homeopathic medicine	39	11	2	9
Traditional Chinese medicine	38	13	1	14
Acupressure	37	9	0	19
Chelation therapy	35	7	1	7
Music therapy	35	18	3	11
Cultural/folk medicine	34	19	5	20
Dance/movement therapies	32	15	3	10
Prayer/spiritual healing	32	22	16	14
Megavitamin therapy	28	14	2	6
Guided imagery	25	10	6	6
Colon therapy	24	4	1	4
Naturopathic medicine	20	2	1	3
Macrobiotic diet	19	7	1	4
Therapeutic touch	19	7	3	8
Bioelectromagnetics	18	2	0	4
Tai chi	17	10	4	16
Ayurvedic medicine	15	7	1	8
Aromatherapy	12	7	2	7
Reiki	4	1	2	1

Note: Therapies are listed in order of perceived legitimacy. Total n = 143; however, the number of responses to the individual therapies ranged from 136 to 141 for legitimacy and from 135 to 140 for training.

View popup

Table 3.

Percentage of Respondents Reporting Personal Experience with and Perceived Effectiveness of Alternative Therapies.

Alternative Medical Therapy	Personal Experience				Consider Treatment Effective^*
Alternative Medical Therapy	MD	PhD	Other	Total	MD	PhD	Other	Total
Fitness and exercise	57	54	70	58	100	92	93	98
Nutrition and diet	55	50	80	57	98	96	88	95
Prayer/spiritual healing	33	31	55	36	84	80	91	84
Counseling or psychotherapy	40	23	30	33	100	91	100	98
Herbal medicine	27	31	40	30	65	87	88	77
Emotional support groups	32	17	30	27	96	100	83	95
Meditation	25	29	30	27	84	86	100	87
Massage therapy	23	19	55	26	88	89	91	89
Biofeedback	20	15	25	19	87	86	80	85
Chiropractic	13	15	30	16	70	57	83	70
Cultural/folk medicine	13	15	30	16	90	100	67	87
Acupuncture	12	13	25	14	89	83	40	75
Acupressure	8	10	25	11	83	60	80	75
Guided imagery	9	13	15	11	86	83	67	81
Music therapy	11	13	10	11	88	83	100	88
Traditional Chinese medicine	7	17	15	11	80	63	67	69
Tai chi	8	8	20	10	83	75	75	79
Hypnotherapy	12	4	10	9	78	100	0	69
Ayurvedic medicine	5	10	10	8	75	100	100	91
Homeopathic medicine	5	8	15	8	75	100	67	82
Megavitamin therapy	8	6	10	8	33	33	100	45
Aromatherapy	7	2	15	6	100	100	100	100
Chelation therapy	5	0	10	4	100	0	100	100
Therapeutic touch	4	2	10	4	100	100	100	100
Colon therapy	4	0	5	3	67	0	100	75
Dance/movement therapies	3	2	10	3	100	100	100	100
Macrobiotic diet	3	2	5	3	50	100	0	50
Reiki	1	0	10	2	100	0	50	67
Bioelectromagnetics	3	0	0	1	50	0	0	50
Naturopathic medicine	0	0	5	1	0	0	100	100

Note: Therapies are listed in order of percentage of total respondents with personal experience.
* The percentages given for effectiveness reflect only those respondents who have had personal experience with that therapy.

View popup

Table 4.

Attitudes Toward Alternative Medical Therapies, by Degree.

Attitudes	Degree			Total Mean (SD)
Attitudes	MD Mean (SD)	PhD Mean (SD)	Other Mean (SD)	Total Mean (SD)
General attitudes
Both the mind and body must be treated for the patient to regain complete health (n = 142)	1.68 (0.90)	1.72 (0.88)	1.60 (0.82)	1.68 (0.88)
The mind-body connection to health also contains an important spiritual component (n = 142)	1.97 (0.99)	2.27 (1.55)	2.00 (1.12)	2.08 (1.23)
My general attitude toward alternative medicine is positive (n = 142)	2.93 (1.25)	2.44 (1.53)	2.20 (1.20)	2.66 (1.37)
My attitude toward alternative medicine has changed substantially over the past few years (n = 141)	3.55 (1.69)	3.26 (1.77)	3.40 (1.79)	3.43 (1.73)
Placebo effects
Alternative medical therapies are mainly useful for their placebo effects instead of as specific remedies (n = 143)	4.63 (1.34)	4.92 (1.49)	4.80 (1.28)	4.75 (1.38)
Any improvement perceived by the patient using alternative medical therapies is mainly due to the alternative therapists empathy, time spent with the patient and/or perceived individualized treatment (n = 143)	4.60 (1.36)	5.17 (1.39)	4.95 (1.50)	4.84 (1.40)
If a patient improves because of a placebo effect, the patient has not really improved, even if the improvements are verified by clinical findings (n = 140)	5.64 (1.27)	5.34 (1.42)	5.10 (1.21)	5.46 (1.32)
Using alternative medical therapies
Patients with an untreatable condition should be encouraged to seek alternative therapies (n = 141)	3.66 (1.58)	2.63 (1.51)	3.00 (1.52)	3.21 (1.61)
A physician should not advise any patient to try alternative therapies because it might raise false hopes (n = 142)	4.88 (1.38)	5.28 (1.31)	5.00 (1.38)	5.03 (1.36)

All items were rated on a 7-point scale: 1 = strongly agree, 7 = strongly disagree. Items are listed within category in order of total sample’s decreasing agreement.