Department of Rural Health, University of South Australia, Whyalla Norrie, South Australia.
Patarina Institute, Adelaide, South Australia.
J Rural Health. 2021 Jan;37(1):69-80. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12421. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
The dearth of accessible and appropriate conventional health care services in regional areas may drive many people to seek care provided by complementary medicine (CM) practitioners. Understanding the drivers of CM service use in this population may help inform future health services planning. This study set out to examine the determinants of CM service utilization in a regional South Australian population.
Adults residing in regional South Australia between April 2017 and March 2018 were invited to complete the 44-item consumer utilization, expectations, and experiences of health care instrument. The questionnaire was available in print and online, and was promoted using a multimodal recruitment campaign. Independent predictors of CM service use were determined using multivariate logistic regression.
Completing the questionnaire were 3,926 adults (56.7% aged 50+ years; 52.5% females). Forty-seven percent of participants reported using a CM service within the last 12 months. Univariate analyses revealed a statistically significant association between 13 factors and CM service use. When these factors were forced into a multivariate logistic regression model, the number of predictors of CM service utilization was reduced to 10, which included 6 predisposing factors, 3 enabling factors, and 1 personal health practice. This model was able to explain 23.1% (Nagelkerke R = 0.231) of the variation in CM service use in this sample.
A high level of CM service use was reported among participants living in regional South Australia. The findings highlight the degree to which the appropriateness of health services impacts health-seeking behavior in regional communities.
地区缺乏可及且适当的常规医疗保健服务可能会促使许多人寻求补充医学（CM）从业者提供的医疗服务。了解该人群中 CM 服务使用的驱动因素可能有助于为未来的卫生服务规划提供信息。本研究旨在调查南澳大利亚地区人群中 CM 服务利用的决定因素。
2017 年 4 月至 2018 年 3 月期间邀请居住在南澳大利亚地区的成年人完成包含 44 个项目的消费者医疗保健使用、期望和体验问卷。问卷提供了印刷版和在线版，通过多模式招募活动进行推广。使用多变量逻辑回归确定 CM 服务使用的独立预测因素。
共有 3926 名成年人（56.7%年龄在 50 岁以上；52.5%为女性）完成了问卷。47%的参与者报告在过去 12 个月内使用过 CM 服务。单因素分析显示，13 个因素与 CM 服务使用之间存在统计学显著关联。当这些因素被强制纳入多变量逻辑回归模型时，CM 服务利用的预测因素数量减少到 10 个，其中包括 6 个倾向因素、3 个促成因素和 1 个个人健康实践。该模型能够解释该样本中 CM 服务使用变化的 23.1%（Nagelkerke R=0.231）。
居住在南澳大利亚地区的参与者中报告了高水平的 CM 服务使用。研究结果强调了卫生服务的适当性对地区社区寻求医疗服务行为的影响程度。
