Do Attitudes Toward and Beliefs About Complementary Medicine Affect Treatment Outcomes

Bibliographic Data

ID11032098
AuthorsGeorge Lewith (0000-0002-2364-3960, University of Plymouth), George T Lewith (George T. Lewith is with the Complementary Medicine Research Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, England. Michael E. Hyland is with the Department of Health Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England. Stephen Shaw is with the Department of Statistics, University of Plymouth.), Michael E Hyland (0000-0003-3879-0469, George T. Lewith is with the Complementary Medicine Research Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, England. Michael E. Hyland is with the Department of Health Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England. Stephen Shaw is with the Department of Statistics, University of Plymouth.), Stephen Shaw (0000-0002-4995-6594, George T. Lewith is with the Complementary Medicine Research Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, England. Michael E. Hyland is with the Department of Health Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England. Stephen Shaw is with the Department of Statistics, University of Plymouth.)
Year2002
Volume92
Issue10
Pages1604-1606
Publication date2002-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.92.10.1604
PMID12356605
OpenAlexW2038502307
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited6

Many patients seek help from practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Patients’ prior knowledge of CAM and desire for egalitarian relationships with medical practitioners have been shown to increase CAM use,1,2 as have higher scores on the Absorption scale (a measure of anxiety and “self-absorption”).3 Other personality scales do not predict CAM use.4 Although users of CAM might not agree, a common view among scientists is that CAM outcomes are mediated through a placebo effect5,6; that is, patients improve because they expect to do so. Our aims in the study described here were to assess the validity of the Attitudes toward Alternative Medicine Scale (AAMS) and to determine whether asthmatic patients who had positive attitudes toward and beliefs about CAM showed greater positive changes in outcomes

Affect (linguistics) · Alternative medicine · Anxiety · Family medicine · Personality · Placebo · Psychiatry · Scale (ratio) · Clinical Psychology · Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies · Empathy and Medical Education · Medicine · Pain Management and Placebo Effect · Psychology · Social Psychology

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