Belief in complementary and alternative medicine is related to age and paranormal beliefs in adults.
BACKGROUND
The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widespread, even among people who use conventional medicine. Positive beliefs about CAM are common among physicians and medical students. Little is known about the beliefs regarding CAM among the general public. Among science students, belief in CAM was predicted by belief in the paranormal.


METHODS
In a cross-sectional study, 712 randomly selected adults (>18 years old) responded to the CAM Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ) and a paranormal beliefs scale.


RESULTS
CAM beliefs were very prevalent in this sample of adult Flemish men and women. Zero-order correlations indicated that belief in CAM was associated with age (r = 0.173 P < 0.001) level of education (r = -0.079 P = 0.039) social desirability (r = -0.119 P = 0.002) and paranormal belief (r = 0.365 P < 0.001). In a multivariate model, two variables predicted CAM beliefs. Support for CAM increased with age (regression coefficient: 0.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.006 to 0.014), but the strongest relationship existed between support for CAM and beliefs in the paranormal. Paranormal beliefs accounted for 14% of the variance of the CAM beliefs (regression coefficient: 0.376; 95%: CI 0.30-0.44). The level of education (regression coefficient: 0.06; 95% CI: -0.014-0.129) and social desirability (regression coefficient: -0.023; 95% CI: -0.048-0.026) did not make a significant contribution to the explained variance (<0.1%, P = 0.867).


CONCLUSIONS
Support of CAM was very prevalent in this Flemish adult population. CAM beliefs were strongly associated with paranormal beliefs.
Van den Bulck
Jan
J
Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Parkstraat 45, Box 3603, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. jan.vandenbulck@soc.kuleuven.be
Custers
Kathleen
K
D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male