The utilisation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) among ethnic minorities in South Korea

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Dong Woon Han¹  Jung Hye Hwang²  Woon-Yong Kim³  Eun Kyung Yoo³ 

[1] Department of Global Health and Development, Graduate School, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, 133-791, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea;Department of Preventive Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 222 Wangsimni-ro, 133-791, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea;Institute of Health Services Management, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, 133-791, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 222 Wangsimni-ro, 133-791, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea;Institute of Health Services Management, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, 133-791, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea;

关键词: Ethnic Minority;    Conventional Medicine;    Traditional Korean Medicine;    Moxibustion Therapy;    Ethnic Minority Community;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-103

 received in 2013-08-29, accepted in 2014-03-12,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundRace has been reported to affect the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), but there is very little research on the use of CAM by ethnicity in Korea. This study explores the prevalence of CAM use among ethnic minorities in South Korea.MethodsThe design is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. A convenience sample of ethnic minorities was recruited from two public healthcare centres in Gyeonggi province. The survey instrument included 37 questions regarding CAM use, factors influencing use of CAM, self-health management, and the socio-demographic profile of study participants.ResultsSixty-two percent of study participants reported the use of CAM. Multivitamins (53.3%), acupuncture (48.9%), and traditional Korean herbal medicine (38.9%) were popular CAM modalities in our sample. Other notable CAM modalities included herbal plants, therapeutic massage, and moxibustion therapy. The majority of CAM users (52.2%) received CAM services to treat diseases or as a secondary treatment while receiving conventional care. Having positive perceptions toward the effectiveness of CAM was a major determining factor in CAM use.ConclusionsPhysicians need to be aware of the fact that many ethnic minorities use CAM therapies. Many CAM users reported that they want doctors to know about their CAM use and have a basic understanding of traditional medicine in their home country. Overcoming language and cultural barriers will help reduce unwanted medical complications. High prevalence of CAM use among ethnic minorities in our study warrants further studies using larger sample population.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Hwang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.