Alternative & Integrative Medicine

Examining Health Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviours Relate to Complementary and Orthodox Medicine Use in Chinese Population

Abstract

Huang Y and Furnham A

The objective of this study was to examine Chinese attitudes to Complementary and Orthodox Medicine. Three groups of participants (N=199): complementary medicine (CM) users, orthodox medicine (OM) users, and “neutral” users completed a questionnaire on attitudes towards and behaviours concerning the use of CM and OM. The results indicated that the three groups did not differ in health locus of control, health awareness, perceived importance of psychological factors, and satisfaction with General Practitionerss. All users preferred using OM for H1N1 flu (swine flu) despite a higher perceived disease knowledge in CM group. OM users had more positive attitudes to science than CM users. Participants had higher general efficacy expectation for the type of medicine they used more frequently and the three groups had different perceived OM and CM efficacy for different types of illnesses; CM was considered by all groups to be better for disease prevention and chronic illnesses whereas OM was thought to be more effective in curing acute diseases. Limitations are considered.