Public Attitudes Towards Chinese Medicine in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the public attitudes towards Chinese medicine and the impact of the introduction of statutory practitioner registration in Melbourne, Australia. Method: A convenience sample of 575 participants (18-45 years of age) from three locations in Melbourne completed a self-administered, 60-question survey in August 2002. Results: In the previous 12 months, Chinese medicine had been used by 30.9% of the respondents and 17.3% had visited a Chinese medicine practitioner. For each of eight common conditions listed in the survey, between 61.2% and 92.7% of participants indicated that western medicine was their preferred therapeutic option, rather than Chinese medicine or combination of Western and Chinese medicine. However, substantial proportions of participants preferred Chinese medicine for stomach or internal problems (28.4%), cold/flu (18.8%) and dizziness (17.6%). Although 78.2% were aware that statutory practitioner registration had recently been introduced in the State, only 29.9% indicated that they would only visit a registered practitioner. Implication: More stringent surveillance of Chinese medicine service providers and a public education campaign may be necessary to protect against unauthorized Chinese medicine practice.

A cross‐sectional survey of herbal remedy taking by United Arab Emirate (UAE) citizens in Abu Dhabi

“…This study has shown that the majority of this sample of UAE nationals relied heavily on herbal medicines to treat both acute and chronic conditions; the prevalence rate in this study is much higher than previous studies conducted in Western countries. 3,5,6,12 This is further underlined by this study's findings being purely based on herbal use whereas most Western studies have used umbrella terms such as 'complementary' or 'alternative' medicine, that encompass other forms of treatment such as massage, homeopathy, spiritual healing and acupuncture, to name but a few. In studies where prevalence rates for herbal remedy taking are specified, then rates are much lower, ranging between 10 and 20%.…”

“…In contrast to Western countries where there is growing interest in the use of traditional remedies to supplement or replace conventional Western medicine, [2][3][4][5][6][7] the UAE has embraced Western medicine to the extent that there is now a thorough mixture of Western and traditional medicine taking. Unlike some Western countries, no data exist in the UAE on the prevalence of herbal remedy taking (e.g.…”

Stakeholder attitudes to the regulation of traditional and complementary medicine professions: a systematic review

“…Seventeen studies failed to address the final domain [ 74 , 77 , 79 , 81 – 94 ]. Overall, three studies were rated as high risk [ 85 , 91 , 92 ], 16 were considered moderate risk [ 81 , 82 , 84 , 86 – 90 , 93 – 100 ], and 14 studies were judged as low risk [ 52 , 73 – 80 , 83 , 101 – 104 ].…”

“…The 54 included studies consisted of one book chapter [ 53 ], two government/industry sponsored reports [ 52 , 75 ], three doctoral/master’s theses [ 58 , 78 , 94 ], and 48 journal articles [ 50 , 51 , 54 – 57 , 59 – 77 , 79 , 81 – 93 , 95 – 104 ]. Four papers examined two stakeholder groups and were included separately in this review [ 70 , 88 , 91 , 100 ].…”

“…like pharmaceutical drugs, a consultation with a qualified person first before purchasing medicines Reasons for supporting regulation were that medicines could be dangerous, treatment may not be safe, regulation may give consumers more access to information about products, and give better informed choice Reasons for opposing regulation were loss of freedom of choice, losing control over one's own health, and would probably make treatment too expensive Lin 2005 (Section 9, Hill) [ 52 ] (Summarised in [ 105 ]) Australia (Melbourne) Qualitative Focus groups Consumers within a metropolitan area 24 Western herbal medicine, naturopathy The majority of participants indicted there should be some form of regulation Because consumers place a great deal of trust in practitioners, and are often vulnerable, several participants indicated practitioners should have a qualification (implying an approved qualification) and that they should be regulated Those agreeing with regulation said it was needed to raise the standard of practitioners, ensure consistency of care, and stop unethical practice Regulation implied recognition of practices Some were aware that regulation did not ensure quality care, but thought that it was important for consumers to know that a practitioner had undertaken a minimum standard of training Concerns included the ability of professional associations to investigate complaints against their members, the possibility that poor practitioners could leave (or be forced to leave) one association only to join another, and the need for a body to hear complaints A few though regulation would not improve practitioner quality, and may inhibit them from trying new treatments, that an intuitive approach might be lost if practitioners were required to be registered, and that registration might restrict what they could practise. It was believed that regulation would not address the critical issue of practitioner communication skills Taylor 2003 [ 91 ] New Zealand (Wanganui) Quantitative Print-based questionnaire survey Consecutive patients of general practitioners at three general practices 104 Acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic, hypnosis, Rongoā Māori 71.1% agreed regulation of T&CM practices should be on a par with orthodox medicine Patients indicated T&CM was sometimes, usually, or always safe 64.4% agreed there could be side-effects, and the majority were aware that there could be interactions with orthodox medicine Xue 2005 [ 93 ] Australia (Melbourne) Quantitative Print-based questionnaire survey. Convenience sampling Members of the public in three localities, predominantly Asian and Caucasian …”