Health Status and the Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in the Community Dwelling Pre-elderly and Elderly.
- Author:
Myung Sill CHUNG
1
;
Kyung Choon LIM
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Health status; Complementary and alternative therapies; Aged
- MeSH: Aged*; Chronic Disease; Complementary Therapies*; Delivery of Health Care; Diet Therapy; Education; Herbal Medicine; Humans; Long-Term Care; Medicine, Traditional; Vitamins
- From:Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing 2015;18(1):46-56
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify health status and the use of complementary and alternative therapies in the community dwelling pre-elderly and elderly. METHODS: A total of 193 subjects participated in this study. They were recruited from one senior welfare center, four senior citizen centers and subjects' home in two cities. Data were collected with self-reported questionnaires to measure health status and the use of complementary and alternative therapies. Data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA using SPSS/WIN 22.0. RESULTS: Health status in this subjects was different depending on their age, sex, education, religion, type of family, and average monthly living expenses. Most used items as complementary and alternative medicine are diet therapy, herbal medicine such as health supplement food therapy, vitamin therapy, and Korean folk remedies. There were statistically significant differences in using complementary and alternative therapies according to one's current health status (F=7.09, p<.001), comparing health status to peers (F=3.67, p=.013), and chronic disease having more than three months (t=-2.50, p=.013). CONCLUSION: This study suggest that individualized health care should be continued for the pre-elderly and elderly. Moreover, we need to prepare long term care plans such as educations for applying complementary and alternative therapies.
