Introduction

1. Barriers to Participation: Perceptions of Prototypical Users of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Katherine S. Salamon, M.S. & W. Hobart Davies, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Measures Table 2: Descriptives of Perceptions Introduction • Demographic information forminquired about age, gender, ethnicity, and years of education. Parents also were asked to provide information about their child, including age and gender. • A perceptions measure was developed in which participants read a short vignette about yoga or acupuncture and asked to describe the person in the vignette by choosing from a list of 42 adjectives. Following this, participants were asked to rate individuals who use yoga or acupuncture on numerous variables (e.g., gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and religion) by using a reference group. Participants were asked to respond on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from much less likely (1) to much more likely (5). An example vignette for yoga: “You overhear a co-worker telling someone that they have recently been feeling very anxious and stressed. To help with their worry and nerves, they have started going to yoga once a week, which they describe as a practice of traditional poses and breathing to help align the mind, body, and spirit. They continue to say that this allows more control over the mind and body, leads to spiritual awareness, and helps relieve stress and anxiety.” • An abbreviated version of the Holistic Health Questionnaire (HHQ; Tsao & Zeltzer, 2005) assessed prior use of traditional and non-traditional treatments utilized for any reason, as well as previous experience specifically with yoga or acupuncture and expectations regarding the use of yoga or acupuncture for improving sleep and pain. • Interest and participation in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has steadily increased over the last decade (Bazargan et al., 2008). • Growing research suggests that these therapies have psychological benefits and appear to be effective for alleviation of symptoms associated with some medical illnesses, including chronic pain conditions (John et al., 2007; Kuttner et al., 2006). • Given that these therapies are not yet considered mainstream in American society, people’s perceptions of “who” does a particular CAM therapy may have a significant influence on their perceived acceptance and subsequently their likelihood of deciding to take part in these therapies. • Barnett et al. (2003) described a hypothesized schema held by the general population that a typical CAM user is Caucasian, well educated, middle class, and female. • Additional research is needed to empirically explore beliefs about the characteristics of individuals who participate in CAM to determine the pervasiveness and generalizability of these opinions. • The aim of the current study was to explore the demographic characteristics of the CAM prototype held by a community sample. Methods • Young adults and parents of children ages 6 to 12 years old were recruited using community sampling, responding via an electronic survey. • Undergraduate students enrolled in an experimental child psychology research methods course recruited parents of children 6 to 12 years old, as well as young adults (18 to 24 years old) in the community. * Indicates that value was half a standard deviation above or below the mean. Table 1: Sample Demographics Table 3: Correlations: Perceptions and Expectations Procedure • Once verbal consent was obtained, participants were given the link to complete the survey. • For the young adults to be eligible, participants had to be at least 18 years of age. • For the parent survey, eligible parents had to be at least 18 years of age and care for a child in the specific age range. • Consent was documented at the beginning of the survey with participants required to check yes if they were 18 years or older and understood that participation was voluntary. Results • The CAM user prototype is represented in Table 2. • Correlations between expectations and perceptions measure revealed that higher expectations lead to increases in the characteristics that described the typical CAM user prototype. This was specifically found for age range, religion, gender, and education level (Table 3). • Top five words that participants used to describe those seeking: • acupuncture were: • “open minded” (68.4%) • “exploring” (54.6%) • “free spirited” (48.5%) • “spiritual” (42.1%) • “healthy” (38%) • yoga were: • “open minded” (67.9%) • “exploring” (46.2%) • “free spirited” (39.7%) • “nontraditional” (39.7%) • “curious” (35.9%) *p < . 10. **p < .05. ***p < .01. NS = Not significant Data Analysis Conclusions • Demographics for the sample were computed (Table 1). • Characteristics with ratings that fell a half standard deviation above the mean were considered as those that described the prototypical participant and characteristics that fell a half standard deviation below the mean were considered to describe the typical non participant (see Table 2). • Pearson correlations were utilized to determine if there was an association between previous experience with yoga or acupuncture and the description of the typical CAM user (see Table 3). • The results of the current study closely resemble the stereotype that Barnett et al. (2003) presented. • The role of expectations of these therapies may provide information on how to develop recruitment methods to ensure a wide range of individuals participate in these studies. • It is important to understand how these stereotypes may affect people’s decision making about participating in CAM interventions and the potential implication for future research on the effectiveness of CAM therapies.