Factors Related toSelf-Care with Alternative Medicine Used among Trang People

Abstract

The alternative medicine nowadays becomes one of the significant healthcare options among Trang people. The studies regarding the use of alternative medicine (AM) among this population arerarely and conducted and unclear. Therefore, the purposes of this research were to study self-care behaviors among these people who were using AMsand to identify factors that may relate to this phenomenon. Three hundred and eighty-one participants of this study were selected with purposive sampling technique with the inclusive criteriasuch as aged between 30-60 years old and usedthe AMfor at least one year. Researchers developed a questionnaire for collecting data that has shown good internal consistency reliability with Cronbach's alphas equal to .73. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Spearman's rank correlation were used to analyze data. The study found that the frequency of using AM by participants were sometime (less than three times per week). The majority of AM using by participants werea chant or prayer (99%), herbal drinking (97.4%), and herbal consumption (97.1%), respectively. By contrast, most of the participants never used Thai hermit exercise (90.3%) and Thai herbal body scrub (82.2%). The relationship analysis result found thatgenderas the predisposing factor had a significant association with the use of AM in medium level (Cramer's V = .381, p < .01); while, educational level (Cramer's V = .242, p < .01), occupation (Crammer's V = .234) andpresent health status (Cramer's V = .230, p < .01) had significant relationships with the use of AM in low level. Moreover, knowledge of AM (Spearman's Rho = .255, p < .01) and the perceived benefit of AM (Spearman's Rho= .104, p < .05) were significant predisposing factors.