Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapy Use Among Chinese and Vietnamese Americans: Prevalence, Associated Factors, and Effects of Patient–Clinician Communication
- 1 April 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Public Health Association in American Journal of Public Health
- Vol. 96 (4), 647-653
- https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2004.048496
Abstract
Objective. We examined the use of complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies among Chinese and Vietnamese Americans who had limited proficiency with the English language and explore the association between patient–clinician discussions about CAM therapy use and patient assessments of quality of care. Methods. We surveyed Chinese and Vietnamese Americans who visited 11 community health centers in 8 major cities throughout the United States. Results. Of the 4410 patients surveyed, 3258 (74%) returned completed questionnaires. Two thirds of respondents reported they had “ever used” some form of CAM therapy; however, only 7.6% of these patients had discussed their use of CAM therapies with clinicians. Among patients who had used CAM therapies during the week before their most recent visits, clinician–patient discussions about CAM therapy use were associated with better overall patient ratings of quality of care. Conclusion. Use of CAM therapies was common among Chinese and Vietnamese Americans who had limited proficiency with the English language. Although discussions about CAM therapy use with clinicians were uncommon, these discussions were associated with better ratings of quality of care.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Surveying Minorities with Limited-English ProficiencyMedical Care, 2004
- Linguistic and cultural barriers to careJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2003
- Utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by United States AdultsMedical Care, 2002
- Toward improved health: disaggregating Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander dataAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2000
- Patient-Centered Quality Measures for Asian Americans: Research in ProgressAmerican Journal of Medical Quality, 2000
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in a Patient SurveyMedical Care, 2000
- Panel I: Epidemiology of minority health.Health Psychology, 1995
- Panel I: Epidemiology of minority health.Health Psychology, 1995
- Panel VI: Ethnic minorities, health care systems, and behavior.Health Psychology, 1995
- Culture and clinical care. Folk illness beliefs and behaviors and their implications for health care deliveryPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1994