Ching-Wen Huang1, Diem Ngoc Hong Tran2, Tsai-Feng Li2,3, Yui Sasaki4, Ju Ah Lee5, Myeong Soo Lee6, Ichiro Arai7, Yoshiharu Motoo8, Keiko Yukawa9, Kiichiro Tsutani10, Seong-Gyu Ko1,4, Shinn-Jang Hwang11,12, Fang-Pey Chen2,13. 1. Department of Science in Korean Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea. 2. Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. 3. Center for Traditional Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC. 4. Department of Applied Korean Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea. 5. Hwa-pyeong Institute of Integrative Medicine, Incheon, South Korea. 6. Clinical Medicine Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. 7. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nihon Pharmaceutical University, Saitama, Japan. 8. Department of Medical Oncology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. 9. Department of Health Policy and Technology Assessment, National Institute of Public Health, Saitama, Japan. 10. Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan. 11. Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. 12. Department of Family Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. 13. Center for Traditional Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In Taiwan, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). However, most of them focused on specific diseases or the use of particular methods. Therefore, the results of those studies were quite different and difficult to compare with those of studies from other countries. The International CAM Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q), meanwhile, is a unified tool that can provide comparable results for studies conducted worldwide. Thus, the aim of this study was to discover the proportions of people in Taiwan receiving CAM treatments from different types of health care providers by using an adapted version of I-CAM-Q (I-CAM-QT). METHODS: I-CAM-QT was developed by translating the Korean version of I-CAM-Q (I-CAM-QK) into traditional Chinese language because of the similarity of CAM usage and doctor licensing system. This study had two stages: the first was a pretest survey used to adjust the questionnaire, while the second was an internet-based survey used to collect data from the community. RESULTS: Of the 1200 survey respondents, 37% and 37.7% were prescribed or advised to use Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) by Western medicine (WM) physicians and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors, respectively. Other than CHM, dietary supplements and massage were the forms of CAM most commonly prescribed or recommended by WM physicians or TCM doctors. Overall, walking and relaxation techniques were the most commonly used self-help practices (used by 61.9% and 40.4% of the respondents, respectively). Additionally, 70.3% of the respondents had used at least one kind of dietary supplement in the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: Regarding the utilization of CAM in Taiwan, this internet-based survey revealed that CHM, dietary supplements, and massage were the types of CAM most commonly prescribed or recommended by WM physicians or TCM doctors.
BACKGROUND: In Taiwan, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). However, most of them focused on specific diseases or the use of particular methods. Therefore, the results of those studies were quite different and difficult to compare with those of studies from other countries. The International CAM Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q), meanwhile, is a unified tool that can provide comparable results for studies conducted worldwide. Thus, the aim of this study was to discover the proportions of people in Taiwan receiving CAM treatments from different types of health care providers by using an adapted version of I-CAM-Q (I-CAM-QT). METHODS: I-CAM-QT was developed by translating the Korean version of I-CAM-Q (I-CAM-QK) into traditional Chinese language because of the similarity of CAM usage and doctor licensing system. This study had two stages: the first was a pretest survey used to adjust the questionnaire, while the second was an internet-based survey used to collect data from the community. RESULTS: Of the 1200 survey respondents, 37% and 37.7% were prescribed or advised to use Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) by Western medicine (WM) physicians and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors, respectively. Other than CHM, dietary supplements and massage were the forms of CAM most commonly prescribed or recommended by WM physicians or TCM doctors. Overall, walking and relaxation techniques were the most commonly used self-help practices (used by 61.9% and 40.4% of the respondents, respectively). Additionally, 70.3% of the respondents had used at least one kind of dietary supplement in the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: Regarding the utilization of CAM in Taiwan, this internet-based survey revealed that CHM, dietary supplements, and massage were the types of CAM most commonly prescribed or recommended by WM physicians or TCM doctors.
Authors: Esayas B Kebede; Judy Tan; Salma Iftikhar; Haitham S Abu Lebdeh; Murali K Duggirala; Amit K Ghosh; Ivana T Croghan; Sarah M Jenkins; Saswati Mahapatra; Brent A Bauer; Dietlind L Wahner-Roedler Journal: Glob Adv Health Med Date: 2021-04-21