Some superstition, some magical health, but all natural: beliefs that makes us prone to traditional, complementary and alternative medicine practices

Abstract

To preserve their health, people are increasingly resorting to traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). While its appeal grows, it is still lacking a strong evidence base and can lead to adverse effects. In a previous study in Serbia, we developed a new instrument to measure the lifetime use of diverse TCAM practices (e.g., acupuncture, art therapy, herbal balms, prayer, etc.) and explored its psychological antecedents. The results showed that the pattern of use of TCAM practices can be classified into four domains: Alternative medical systems, Natural product-based practices, New age medicine, and Rituals/Customs. Moreover, an irrational mindset (IM; consisting of irrational beliefs and cognitive biases) contributed to the prediction of TCAM use, over and above socio-demographics, ideological beliefs, and self-reported health status. To conceptually replicate the results, we validated the measure in a novel setting (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Participants first reported their lifetime TCAM use (N = 580). Using CFA, we replicated a four-factor structure of TCAM domains (CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = .03 (95 % CI .03-.04)). Next, for the participants who filled out all measures (N = 470, 65 % women; Mage = 44.9, SDage = 10.2), we explored whether IM variables (magical health beliefs, conspiracist thinking, superstition, and the naturalness bias) contributed to the prediction of TCAM use. As expected, after controlling for sociodemographics, ideological beliefs, and self-reported health status, IM significantly contributed to the prediction (ΔF (4,457) = 20.33, p < .001, ΔR2 = .127), with magical health beliefs, superstition, and naturalness bias contributing over and above other predictors. Magical health beliefs were the strongest predictor, alongside gender. We find that our results largely replicate in a novel setting, offering further evidence of the importance of including IM when considering the susceptibility to TCAM use.