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Trusted Information Sources: The Preferred Option for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Users

Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, PO Box 973, Moe, Victoria 3825, Australia, anske.robinson{at}med.monash.edu.au

Simon Cooper, PhD

The objective of this article is to explore complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) users' reliance on health service providers, different forms of media, and interpersonal contacts for their health-needs information. To explore this information, a survey was posted to a random sample of 1,308 people in five rural and two metropolitan localities in Victoria, Australia. The response rate was 40% (n = 459). The overall current CAM use was 52% and lifetime use was 85%. We found that the CAM users obtained most of their health needs information from doctors and CAM practitioners, whereas the Internet and health food shops served as the least useful sources of information. The respondents who used the modalities we labeled as natural remedy modalities accessed the most health information. The study results show that although conventional medicine may question some types of health care information that forms the basis of respondents' decision making, their health care decisions are nevertheless informed decisions.

Key Words: complementary and alternative medicines • communication • patient information sources • rural

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