Attitudes toward Integrative Medicine among Public Health Graduate Students Katie Pincura, MA Department of Health Sciences, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA Adviser: Dr. Leigh Rich
What is Integrative Medicine? Complementary and Alternative Medicine + Orthodox Medicine = Integrative Medicine Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) may refer to: Chiropractic treatment Massage therapy Herbal therapy Acupuncture
Integrative Services are in Demand CAM utilization in the United States began to surge in the mid- 1990s (Eisenberg et al., 1998) Physician acceptance of various CAM modalities roughly matched those of the public by 1995 (Astin, Marie, Pelletier, Hansen, & Haskell, 1998) Healthcare trend emerged focused on combining orthodox, biomedical medicine with CAM approaches (Rogier Hoenders, Appelo, & de Jong, 2012) Demand for these integrative medical services has remained stable in the United States since 2000 (Harris, Cooper, Relton, & Thomas, 2012)
Public Health Voices: The Missing Piece In the past decade, research of IM therapies has continued to proliferate (Frass et al., 2012) Acceptance by the medical community What about public health professionals? Scant evidence of the formalized assimilation of IM principles into high-visibility American public health promotions (Burke, Ginzburg, Collie, Trachtenberg, & Muhammad, 2005)
Public Health & Integrative Medicine Barrier: lack of IM-related research devoted specifically to public health applications (Sibbritt & Adams, 2011) 2009 meta-analysis: greatest gains in acceptance and awareness of IM are in biomedical curricula and in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curricula The same report found no appreciable sample of data on the state of public health graduate programs in terms of integration of IM principles or awareness of IM on behalf of students or faculty (Kreitzer, Kligler, & Meeker, 2009)
Proposed Study: Survey of Public Health Graduate Students Sample of participating Georgia public health graduate program enrollees IMAQ = Integrative Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire Goal of survey is to assess participant attitudes toward IM
IMAQ Originally developed and validated by Schneider, Meek, & Bell (2003) Version used in proposed study was adapted from Rees, Wearn, Dennis, Amri, & Greenfield (2009). 29 statements and a Likert-type rating system Statements relate to attitudes/experiences with CAM, IM
Ongoing Research Results of IMAQ survey can provide basis for research specific to IM in public health that reflects current trends in healthcare reform Section 2706 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 addresses the issue of consumer choice of healthcare professionals who are not medical doctors, a significant acknowledgement of the growing public and professional demand for IM services Section 2706 Non-Discrimination in Health Care: Harkin Amendment (a) PROVIDERS. A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider s license or certification under applicable State law. (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010)
Questions/Comments
References Burke, A., Ginzburg, K., Collie, K., Trachtenberg, D., Muhammad, M. (2005). Exploring the role of complementary and alternative medicine in public health practice and training. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 11(5), 931-936. Eisenberg, D., Davis, R., Ettner, S., Appel, S., Wilkey, S., Van Rompay, M., & Kessler, R. (1998). Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: Results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 280(18), 1569-1575. Frass, M., Strassl, R.P., Friehs, H., Mullner, M., Kundi, M., & Kaye, A.D. (2012). Use and acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine among the general population and medical personnel: A systematic review. The Ochsner Journal, 12(1), 45-56. Harris, P.E., Cooper, K.L., Relton, C., & Thomas, K.J. (2012). Prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by the general population: A systematic review and update. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 66(10), 924-939. doi: 10.1111/j.1742 1241.2012.02945.x Kreitzer, M.J., Kligler, B., & Meeker, W.C. (2009). Proceedings from: IOM Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public. Lie, D., & Boker, J. (2004). Development and validation of the CAM health belief questionnaire (CHBQ) and CAM use and attitudes amongst medical students. BMC Medical Education, 4(2). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. 18001 et seq. (2010). Rees, C. E., Wearn, A. M., Dennis, I., Amri, H., & Greenfield, S. M. (2009). Medical students' attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine: Further validation of the IMAQ and findings from an international longitudinal study. Medical Teacher, 31(2), 125-132. doi: 10.1080/01421590802139724 Rogier-Hoenders, H. J., Appelo, M.T., & de Jong, J. (2012). Integrative medicine: A bridge between biomedicine and alternative medicine fitting the spirit of the age. Sociology Mind, 2(4). 441-446. doi:10.4236/sm.2012.24057 Schneider, C.D., Meek, P.M., & Bell, I.R. (2003). Development and validation of IMAQ: Integrative Medicine Attitude Questionnaire. BMC Medical Education, 3(5). doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-3-5 Sibbritt, D., & Adams, J. (2011). Developing and promoting public health methods for integrative medicine: Example from the field in Australia. Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine, 9(3), 233-236. doi: 10.3736/jcim20110301