Personal Values, Health Beliefs, and the Use of Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine in Finland

Abstract

This study examines the relationships of personal values and health beliefs with past and intended use of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine (CAIM) in Finland. It also investigates the extent to which CAIM users and non-users endorse holistic versus reductionistic health beliefs and whether experiencing benefits or harms from CAIM use is related to users' intention to continue using CAIM. Data were drawn from the survey responses of 3244 Finns who were randomly selected from a commercial, probability-based online panel. The results of logistic regression analyses indicated that scoring low on conservation (vs. openness to change) values, high on holistic health beliefs, and low on reductionistic health beliefs were associated with a higher likelihood of having used CAIM. High levels of holistic health beliefs and low levels of reductionistic health beliefs were associated with a higher likelihood of intending to use CAIM in the future or to continue CAIM use. Individuals who had used CAIM were more likely to intend to use it in the future than those who had not. CAIM users who had experienced benefits or had not experienced harms from CAIM use were more likely to intend to continue use. Both CAIM users and non-users scored higher on holistic than on reductionistic health beliefs. The results highlight the role of health beliefs in past and intended future CAIM use and the relevance of experienced everyday effectiveness of CAIM for use intentions. This study demonstrates that a holistic conception of health and illness treatment is widely shared and not only a feature of CAIM users.