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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Angela Drent, MS, Community Networking 55Plus Program, Methodist Health System, 8511 West Dodge Road, Omaha, NE 68114, (402) 354-6632, adrent58@hotmail.com and Manoj Sharma, PhD, School of HPER, University of Nebraska at Omaha & Walden University, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0216.
Prevalence surveys have been done for usage patterns of complementary and alternative systems of medicine and health. Few studies have focused on older adults and none have collected information on behavioral theory-based attitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, costs, perceived knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, expectancies, and the stages of change for use of ten common unconventional therapies among older adults in an urban Mid Western setting. Mail survey was sent to 10,338 individuals over 55 years. A panel of four national experts in two rounds validated the instrument. Reliability testing for all subscales was found to be acceptable. A total of 2,119 people responded. After two weeks a post-card reminder was also mailed and another 607 people responded after the reminder, giving a total of 2,726 respondents (26.4% response rate). None of the study variables, except for outcome expectations, were found to be statistically significant between first and second time responders, which is understandable as the people who were more motivated to use were more enthusiastic in responding. The respondents consisted of 67.0% females, predominantly white (97.5%) with a third between the ages of 65 and 74 years. The study found self-prayer as the most common unconventional therapy (60%). An average of $22 was spent out of pocket per month with a range of $0-$2,300 and $100 was spent per year with a range of $0-$7,290 for all 10 CAM therapies combined. The study also discusses the attitudinal antecedents and predictive regression models.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Elderly
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.