The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is now widespread and endeavours are increasingly being made to incorporate CAM into conventional healthcare and move towards Integrative Medicine (IM). To date research has primarily focused on the prevalence of use, and safety and efficacy of CAM; less is known about patients' experiences of and reasons for using specific therapies. While therapeutically diverse, it has been suggested that many CAM modalities share mutually referential ideologies and that people who use them may be motivated to do so by specific health beliefs. This study focuses on traditional acupuncture in a New Zealand context and investigates users' experiences and perceptions of the therapy, and discusses how personal health beliefs influence usage. A systematic review of relevant international qualitative research informed the main study, which was carried out using an interpretive phenomenological methodology (Heidegger's approach). Data was gathered from interviews with 12 participants who had recently received treatment from traditionally trained (non-biomedical) acupuncturists. Thematic analysis suggested that acupuncture was often sought for health conditions (typically of a chronic and benign nature) that are difficult to treat conventionally. Whereas initial access was primarily motivated by ineffective biomedical treatment, personal health beliefs-particularly subscription to holistic and vitalistic ideologies-often inspired more extensive and ongoing use. The therapeutic encounter was interpreted to contain many elements-other than needling-integral to treatment. Outcomes were perceived to be wide ranging, personal and necessarily subjective, and included the relief of symptoms, increased well-being, and changes to understandings and health behaviours. It is concluded that the attraction of acupuncture for patients and many of its perceived benefits lie in therapeutic components that are ultimately embedded in Chinese medicine (holistic) theories of health. A more pluralistic schema for assessing evidence may be necessary to acknowledge treatment outcomes that are meaningful to patients, and to accommodate the divergent ontologies and practice models of acupuncture, other CAMs and biomedicine. Increased interdisciplinary cooperation and communication is suggested as a means to improve patient safety and satisfaction and as a scenario for moving forward with IM.

Diabetes mellitus affects 7.8% of the American population. National health statistic data and other research shows that racial/ethnic disparities exist in terms of prevalence and treatment outcomes. The present study investigated the role of patient health beliefs (i.e., locus of control, self-efficacy) and the doctor-patient relationship (e.g., satisfaction and collaboration with health care provider), as relative predictors of diabetic control (i.e., HbA1c levels) and overall satisfaction with diabetes care, in older adult participants with diabetes. Demographic, psychosocial, and diabetes-related data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) 2003 Diabetes Study were analyzed to compare treatment outcomes among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic individuals with various types of diabetes. Non-Hispanic White individuals exhibited better diabetic control than their minority counterparts (F(2, 592) = 7.60, p < .001); however, no significant group differences were noted in terms of psychosocial factors. Diabetic control was best predicted by time since diagnosis (&#946; = -.21, p < .001), satisfaction with diabetes self-care (&#946; = .19, p < .001) and age (&#946; = .12, p < .01). In addition, satisfaction with provider care was best predicted by perceived collaboration with provider (&#946; = .44, p < .001), satisfaction with diabetes self-care (&#946; = .22, p < .001) and diabetes self-efficacy (&#946; = .08, p < .05). Recommendations for future research were discussed.

This study examined the role of stress on irrational health beliefs and health behaviors among individuals 18-45 years old. Previous research has shown that this age group reported higher stress levels, more physical symptoms of stress, and the highest level of negative health behaviors. The theoretical frameworks were health belief model, the transactional model of stress and coping theory, and Ellis's concept of irrational beliefs. A survey using 3 published instruments measured the perceived stress level, irrational health beliefs, and health behaviors of a sample of 97 individuals aged 18-45. The data were quantitatively assessed using a mediation model to test a significant relationship between the predictor variable, perceived stress, and the criterion variable, health behaviors, using the mediating variable of irrational health beliefs. Findings suggest that higher stress levels are related to health behaviors (p ˂ .001), while stress did not make a significant contribution to irrational health beliefs (p = .092). Moreover, findings indicated that greater irrational health beliefs are related to more negative health behaviors (p = .010). Irrational health beliefs were not found to mediate the relationship between perceived stress and health behaviors. This research supports and extends the current body of research examining the relationship between stress, irrational health beliefs, and health behaviors. The results of this study can provide insight into how stress is related to thoughts and behaviors, specifically focusing on health. This study may aid health psychologists by providing information that can contribute to the development of interventions to reduce stress, reduce irrational health beliefs, and improve health behaviors.

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No description available.

Background: Arab Americans, a growing population in the U.S., tend to have high rates of smoking and low rates of smoking cessation. Arab Americans and their families are at a high risk for poor health outcomes related to smoking. Objective: The purpose of this study is to better understand the smoking behaviors of Arabs in the U.S., using the two publishable manuscripts format. The first manuscript is a systematic review of the literature exploring the smoking behavior, prevalence and use among Arab Americans and examining studies addressing the effect of acculturation on this behavior. The second manuscript is a cross-sectional quantitative study investigating factors influencing desire to quit smoking among Arab Americans, and their association with acculturation and health beliefs. Results: The majority of the studies included in the first manuscript focused on smoking prevalence and cessation. Some discussed the impact of acculturation and health beliefs only two smoking cessation programs have been developed. Thus a cross-sectional descriptive study among adult Arab American smokers was conducted to measure tobacco use, nicotine dependence, desire to quit smoking, acculturation, and health beliefs. The desire to quit smoking was positively associated with perceived severity and susceptibility to cancer, perceived benefits of quitting smoking; and negatively associated with smoking barriers and nicotine dependence. Being female, having lower level of nicotine dependence, and higher perception of cancer severity predicted higher desire to quit smoking. Conclusion: Smoking cessation intervention studies need to target appropriate health beliefs, especially cancer severity of smoking among male Arab Americans.

The aim of this study was to investigate and compare health beliefs among employees. The study looked at the African Traditional Model and the Medical Model in relation to HIV risk among employees in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study sample was made up of 96 participants, all African, and predominately female. The study established employees` health beliefs by asking them to indicate their health beliefs on the Biographical Questionnaire provided in the study. HIV risk among employees was assessed through the use of HIV Risk-Taking Behaviour Scale (HRBS), Attitude to Condom Use, a sub-scale of the Sexual Risks Scale (SRSA) and Sexual Risk Cognitions Questionnaire (SRCQ). A comparison of HIV risk between the two groups of employees was achieved by performing ANOVA. In addition, the study conducted secondary analyses using correlations to establish relationships between variables. The results obtained in this study showed a statistically significant difference in HIV risk between employees who believed in the African Traditional Model and those who believed in the Medical Model in HIV prevention. Secondary correlational analyses between variables showed a significant, negative relationship between participants` attitude toward condom use and their sexual risk cognitions. The results indicated that employees who had a positive attitude towards condom use reported low sexual risk cognitions towards unsafe behaviour. In contrast, employees who had a negative attitude towards condom use showed high sexual cognitions towards unsafe sexual behaviours. Directions for future studies could focus on education and training strategies to reduce negative health beliefs among employees in the fight against HIV and AIDS in South Africa.

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Foi desenvolvido um questionário para utilização, na prática, do Modelo de Crenças de Saúde (MCS) usando informações tanto populares como médicas sobre a prevenção do câncer cérvico-uterino. As crençaas foram identificadas pelos quatro componentes principais do MCS (percepção da suscetibilidade e da gravidade da doença e de beneficios e de barreiras à ação preventiva), e foram calculadas medidas individuais para cada componente do MCS, a conduta preventiva anterior e os conhecimentos do exame de Papanicolaou e de câncer cérvico-uterino. O instrumento foi elaborado em cinco etapas e a análise estatística incluiu a descrição de cada questio, associações entre conduta e cada componente do MCS e entre conduta e conhecimento da doença e do exame de Papanicolaou. O estudo foi realizado com entrevistas de 300 mulheres numa cidade do interior do Brasil. Os resultados indicaram que os componentes do MCS estavam ligados fracamente à conduta preventiva, mas o componente suscetibilidade evidenciou menor variação e maior relação com a conduta. Apesar do MCS não se apresentar como um forte preditor de conduta, foi confirmado seu uso para explicar a conduta. Os resultados estatísticos são apresentados de forma descritiva. Algumas crenças e conflitos entre crenças puderam ser facilmente identificados e discutidos. Foram propostas sugestões para programas de educação relativos à prevenção do câncer cérvico-uterino e para uso do MCS na avaliação de mudanças de conduta preventiva da população nos programas educacionais. / A questionnaire was developed wich allows the translation of the Health Belief Hodel to practice, using both, popular and medical informations in cervical cancer prevention. Belief identification have been limited to the four major dimensions of the HBH (perceptions of susceptibility, seriousness, barriers and benefits), and individual measures were calculated for each HBH dimensions, the retrospective preventive behavior and knowledge of cervical smear and cervical cancer. Instrument refinement occurred in five stages and the descriptive statistical anal~sis included each question description, and relationship between each HBM dimension and preventive behavior, and between kncwledge and behavior. The study was performed by interviews with 300 women in a inside, country city in Brazil. The results are indicating that the HBM components were weakly related with the preventive behavior, but susceptibility showed lower variation and were more closer to behavior. In spite that the HBM was not a strcnger predictor of preventive behavior, its capacity to explain behaviors was confirmed. Descriptive statistics was used to present results. Some beliefs and belief conflicts were easily identified and discussed. Sugestions were offered for programing health education in cervical cancer prevention and for use the HBM descriptive data to evaluate education impact in preventive behavior changes in a population.

Foi desenvolvido um questionário para utilização, na prática, do Modelo de Crenças de Saúde (MCS) usando informações tanto populares como médicas sobre a prevenção do câncer cérvico-uterino. As crençaas foram identificadas pelos quatro componentes principais do MCS (percepção da suscetibilidade e da gravidade da doença e de beneficios e de barreiras à ação preventiva), e foram calculadas medidas individuais para cada componente do MCS, a conduta preventiva anterior e os conhecimentos do exame de Papanicolaou e de câncer cérvico-uterino. O instrumento foi elaborado em cinco etapas e a análise estatística incluiu a descrição de cada questio, associações entre conduta e cada componente do MCS e entre conduta e conhecimento da doença e do exame de Papanicolaou. O estudo foi realizado com entrevistas de 300 mulheres numa cidade do interior do Brasil. Os resultados indicaram que os componentes do MCS estavam ligados fracamente à conduta preventiva, mas o componente suscetibilidade evidenciou menor variação e maior relação com a conduta. Apesar do MCS não se apresentar como um forte preditor de conduta, foi confirmado seu uso para explicar a conduta. Os resultados estatísticos são apresentados de forma descritiva. Algumas crenças e conflitos entre crenças puderam ser facilmente identificados e discutidos. Foram propostas sugestões para programas de educação relativos à prevenção do câncer cérvico-uterino e para uso do MCS na avaliação de mudanças de conduta preventiva da população nos programas educacionais. / A questionnaire was developed wich allows the translation of the Health Belief Hodel to practice, using both, popular and medical informations in cervical cancer prevention. Belief identification have been limited to the four major dimensions of the HBH (perceptions of susceptibility, seriousness, barriers and benefits), and individual measures were calculated for each HBH dimensions, the retrospective preventive behavior and knowledge of cervical smear and cervical cancer. Instrument refinement occurred in five stages and the descriptive statistical anal~sis included each question description, and relationship between each HBM dimension and preventive behavior, and between kncwledge and behavior. The study was performed by interviews with 300 women in a inside, country city in Brazil. The results are indicating that the HBM components were weakly related with the preventive behavior, but susceptibility showed lower variation and were more closer to behavior. In spite that the HBM was not a strcnger predictor of preventive behavior, its capacity to explain behaviors was confirmed. Descriptive statistics was used to present results. Some beliefs and belief conflicts were easily identified and discussed. Sugestions were offered for programing health education in cervical cancer prevention and for use the HBM descriptive data to evaluate education impact in preventive behavior changes in a population.