UF Survey: Most Floridians Have Tried Alternative Medicine

February 26, 1997

GAINESVILLE — Ever been hypnotized to battle a smoking habit? Visited a massage therapist to relieve back pain? Brewed a home remedy to ward off the common cold?

A new University of Florida survey shows most Floridians have used some form of alternative medicine in their lives, generally as a supplement to more traditional health care.

“Most of these people have regular doctors. They just want something more–often the personal touch physicians too rarely provide,” said Mary Ann Burg, a sociologist in the UF College of Medicine’s department of community health and family medicine.

Results will be presented Thursday at the 2nd Annual Women’s Health and Research Conference at UF.

Overall, 62 percent of the 1,012 people questioned in December said they had used at least one of 11 forms of alternative medicine named by UF telephone interviewers. The most popular were home remedies, with 31 percent of respondents reporting they had tried them. Also popular were special diets (24 percent), relaxation techniques (20 percent), herbal medicine (18 percent), massage therapy (15 percent) and megavitamin therapy (9 percent). Less common were homeopathic medicine (5 percent), acupuncture (4 percent) and biofeedback, energy healing and hypnosis (2 percent each).

Survey respondents said they generally used alternative therapies for minor symptom relief or to maintain health. The random telephone survey, conducted by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, had a margin of error of less than 3 percent for most questions.

Therapies are known as alternative or complementary if they are not routinely taught in U.S. medical schools, are not usually practiced in the mainstream American medical community and have not been established as safe and effective by rigorous scientific scrutiny. Burg defines alternative medicine as “health-care practices in which people engage without institutionally sanctioned intervention.”

Nonetheless, in the quest to feel better, millions of people are trying herbs, experimenting with special diets or trying to harness the healing power of energy fields surrounding them, among other things.

“People have felt alienated by mainstream medicine,” Burg said. “They are turning to health-care practitioners who focus on their emotional state and let them participate in the treatment process. Many of these therapies are designed to improve a person’s subjective sense of well-being in the theory that it can affect the physical state.”

Women, who generally make more health-care visits than men, also were more likely to have reached beyond mainstream medicine: 68 percent of women surveyed, compared to 55 percent of men. People with health insurance, whites and the well-educated were more likely than those without health insurance, non-whites and those with less schooling to have used alternative therapy.

The survey findings contradict a popular impression of who seeks alternative health care, Burg said.

“Many people assume it would be those who cannot afford regular medical care. Instead, it appears to be people who have the privilege of taking care of themselves, and have the option to explore all sorts of avenues.”

Mainstream medicine is beginning to take notice of the widespread interest in alternative health care. UF researchers, for example, are exploring massage therapy and relaxation techniques for people suffering from sickle cell disease. The National Institutes of Health has established an Office of Alternative Medicine to guide research on complementary medical techniques.

“The challenge will be to find what works and use it alongside conventional medicine,” Burg said. “Doctors also need to become comfortable with discussing alternative medicine so they can steer their patients away from harmful approaches. In so doing, they may increase some trust and appreciation from their patients.”