Vincent C, Furnham A
Department of Psychology, University College London, UK.
Br J Clin Psychol. 1996 Feb;35(1):37-48. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01160.x.
Over 250 patients from three complementary medicine practices-acupuncture, osteopathy and homoeopathy-completed a questionnaire rating 20 potential reasons for seeking complementary treatment. The reasons that were most strongly endorsed were "because I value the emphasis on treating the whole person'; "because I believe complementary therapy will be more effective for my problem than orthodox medicine'; "because I believe that complementary medicine will enable me to take a more active part in maintaining my health'; and "because orthodox treatment was not effective for my particular problem'. Five factors were identified, in order of importance: a positive valuation of complementary treatment, the ineffectiveness of orthodox treatment for their complaint, concern about the adverse effects of orthodox medicine, concerns about communication with doctors and, of less importance, the availability of complementary medicine. Groups were compared, using analysis of covariance to control for demographic differences between the three patient groups. Osteopathy patients' reasons indicated they were least concerned about the side effects of orthodox medicine and most influenced by the availability of osteopathy for their complaints. Homoeopathy patients were most strongly influenced by the ineffectiveness of orthodox medicine for their complaints, a fact which was largely accounted for by the chronicity of their complaints. Results are discussed in terms of the limited research in this area. Future studies should separate the reasons for beginning complementary treatment from the reasons for continuing it. It is possible, for instance, that the failure of orthodox medicine is the strongest motive for seeking complementary treatment but that, once treatment has been experienced, other more positive factors become more important.
来自针灸、整骨疗法和顺势疗法这三种替代医学疗法的250多名患者完成了一份问卷，对寻求替代疗法的20个潜在原因进行了评分。得到最强烈认可的原因是：“因为我重视对人的整体治疗”；“因为我相信替代疗法对我的问题比传统医学更有效”；“因为我相信替代医学能让我更积极地参与保持健康”；以及“因为传统治疗对我的特定问题无效”。确定了五个因素，按重要性排序如下：对替代疗法的积极评价、传统治疗对其病症的无效性、对传统医学副作用的担忧、对与医生沟通的担忧，以及不太重要的替代医学的可及性。使用协方差分析对三组患者之间的人口统计学差异进行控制，对各群体进行了比较。整骨疗法患者的理由表明，他们最不担心传统医学的副作用，且其病症对整骨疗法可及性的影响最大。顺势疗法患者受传统医学对其病症无效性的影响最大，这一事实在很大程度上可归因于其病症的慢性特征。结合该领域有限的研究对结果进行了讨论。未来的研究应将开始接受替代治疗的原因与持续接受治疗的原因区分开来。例如，传统医学的失败可能是寻求替代治疗的最强烈动机，但一旦体验过治疗，其他更积极的因素可能会变得更加重要。
