Aug 20, 2003 – Asians love acupuncture, blacks and Latin Americans love herbal medicine, whites love chiropractic … and academics trust healers.
These are the conclusions, some surprising and others less, of an American study which looked at the attitude of various ethnic groups towards alternative and complementary medicine (CAM).
Thus, while all ethnicities are equally inclined to use CAM, blacks and Latin Americans are, respectively, 1.5 and three times more likely than whites to use herbal medicine.
The odds are also greater that blacks rather than whites will use what the authors have called a “home remedy,” while of all the ethnic groups studied, Asians are the least willing to use it.
For their part, Asians are almost 13 times more likely than whites to turn to acupuncture, while whites seem to have the most confidence in chiropractic, especially if they have an annual income over 25. 000 dollars.
Perhaps the most astonishing finding is the confidence academics seem to place in traditional healers, since they use their services more than less educated people. The researchers note that the term “traditional healer” is used frequently in academic circles, and that the result might have been different if people had been asked about their use of a “shaman,” for example.
Typically, uninsured women with at least a high school diploma were the most likely to use CAMs.
These results were obtained through a telephone survey of nearly 3,800 people.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
From Alternative Therapies; July / August 2003.
