Appendix A
Alternative Medicine Survey
Health Educators’ Attitudes & Practices

Dear Health Educator:

	We are conducting a national survey regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices of professional health educators in relation to alternative medicine.  The results of this survey are confidential.  There are no benefits or risks associated with participation in this study.

Alternative or complementary medicine encompasses a wide range of approaches including dietary supplements, herbs, biological agents, manual healing, bioelectromagnetics, mind-body interventions, and alternative medical practices.  Alternative medicine includes therapies employed as part of conventional medicine and approaches that have been clearly exposed as fraudulent.  Conventional medicine is defined as medical practices and procedures commonly employed by physicians and other certified health workers.

	For this survey alternative medicine is:

“….a heterogeneous set of practices that are offered as an alternative to conventional medicine, for the preservation of health and the diagnosis and treatment of health related problems: its practitioners are often called healers.”  (New England Journal of Medicine, 1992, 326: 61)

1.	In your capacity as a health educator, would you advocate for the use of alternative medicine (as defined above)?		Always	
		Sometimes	
		Rarely	
		Never	
			
2.	Have you personally used alternative medical therapies?		Yes	
		No	
		Don’t remember	

2 (a)	If yes, please list the therapy(ies) have you employed and approximately how often you have used them.

	

	

3.	How important is scientific evidence (e.g., double blind placebo controlled studies) in your decision to support an alternative therapy?		Very important	
		Somewhat important	
		Minimally important	
		Not important	
			
4.	Would it be ethical for a health educator to advocate the use of an untested or unproven therapy?		Yes, always	
		Most of the time	
		Occasionally	
		Never	

5.	Which alternative therapies, if any, do you feel merit closer examination because there are indications that they may prove effective as a component of conventional medicine?

	

	

6.	Are there any other approaches besides traditional scientific testing that should be employed in determining the efficacy of new or alternative therapies?  Please explain.

	

7.	In general, what is your level of confidence in scientifically tested conventional medicine?
		High level of confidence	
		Moderate level of confidence	
		Low level of confidence	
		No confidence	
			
8.	Is it essential that all proposed new therapies be scientifically tested before being approved?		Absolutely essential	
		Usually essential	
		Sometimes essential	
		Seldom essential	

9.	In general, how would you rate your satisfaction with conventional medicine?
		Very satisfied	
		Somewhat satisfied	
		Minimally satisfied	
		Not at all satisfied	
			
10.	How would you rate your personal experiences with alternative medicine?		Very satisfied	
		Somewhat satisfied	
		Minimally satisfied	
		Not at all satisfied	
		Have not had any experience with alternative medicine	
			
11.	How would you describe your psychological health?		Very good	
		Good	
		Adequate	
		Poor	
			
12.	How would you describe your level of sexual satisfaction during the last year?		Very good	
		Good	
		Adequate	
		Poor	
			
13.	Within the last five years have you had any illnesses serious enough to cause you to miss significant time from work or which were life threatening?		Yes	
		No (skip to #15)	
			
14.	If this illness is currently in remission (not active), how would you rate your fear of recurrence?		High	
		Moderate	
		Low	
		Very low	
		Not in remission	
			
15.	If you generally utilize both alternative and conventional medicine in your personal life, approximately what percent of the time do you employ alternative therapies?			
			
Alternative medicine use	%	conventional medicine	%	

16. Which best describes your overall health status?		Excellent health	
		Moderately good health	
		Average health	
		Below average health	
		Poor health	

17.	How many times per week do you participate in at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise vigorous enough to significantly raise your heart and breathing rate?

	 Times per week 

18.	What is your gender ? Check one

a.	Male	[     ]

b.	Female	[     ]

19.	What is your highest degree, discipline of the degree, and year granted?

	Degree						Discipline			Year

20.	How long have you worked as a health educator?

		Years				Months

21.	Please feel free to make any additional comments.

	

	

Thank you so much for completing this confidential survey.  Confidentiality is assured.

Appendix B

Alternative Medicine Survey
Health Students’ Attitudes & Practices

Dear Student:

	We are conducting a survey regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices of  students in relation to alternative medicine.  Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and there are no benefits or risks associated with your participation.  You may answer any or all of the questions and may withdraw, without penalty, from the survey at any time if you desire.  This is an anonymous survey.  The results will be reported as aggregated data, no individual information will be reported.

Alternative or complementary medicine encompass a wide range of approaches including dietary supplements, herbs, biological agents, manual healing, bioelectromagnetics, mind-body interventions, and alternative medical practices.  Alternative medicine includes therapies employed as part of conventional medicine and approaches that have been clearly exposed as fraudulent.  Conventional medicine is defined as medical practices and procedures commonly employed by physicians and other certified health workers.

	For this survey alternative medicine is:

“….a heterogeneous set of practices that are offered as an alternative to conventional medicine, for the preservation of health and the diagnosis and treatment of health related problems: its practitioners are often called healers.”  (New England Journal of Medicine, 1992, 326:61)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.  Would you advocate for the use of 
     alternative medicine (as defined above)?		Always	
		Sometimes	
		Rarely	
		Never	

2. Have you personally used alternative 
medical therapies?
		Yes	
		No 	
		Don’t remember	

2 (a) If yes, please list the therapy(ies) you have employed and approximately how often you have used them.

											

											

 3. How important is scientific evidence
     (e.g. double blind placebo controlled
     studies) in your decision to support an
     alternative therapy?		Very important	
		Somewhat important	
		Minimally important	
		Not important	

4. Would it be ethical to advocate for
    the use of an untested or unproven 
    therapy?
		Yes, always	
		Most of the time	
		Occasionally	
		Never	

5. In general, what is your level of 
   confidence in scientifically tested
   conventional medicine?
		High level of confidence	
		Moderate level of confidence	
		Low level of confidence	
		No confidence	

6. Is it essential that all proposed
      new therapies be scientifically 
      tested before being approved?
		Absolutely essential	
		Usually essential	
		Sometimes essential	
		Seldom essential	
7. In general, how would you rate your
    satisfaction with conventional 
    medicine?
		Very satisfied	
		Somewhat satisfied	
		Minimally satisfied	
		Not at all satisfied	

8. How would you rate your personal
   experiences with alternative medicine?		Very satisfied	
		Somewhat satisfied	
		Minimally satisfied	
		Not at all satisfied	
		Have not had any experience with alternative medicine	

9. Within the last five years have you had
      any illnesses serious enough to cause
      you to miss significant time from 
      school or work ?
		Yes	
		No (skip to #11)	

10. If this illness is currently in remission
      (not active), how would you rate your
      fear of recurrence?
		High	
		Moderate	
		Low	
		Very low	
		Not in remission	

11. Which best describes your overall
      health status?
		Excellent health	
		Moderately good health	
		Average health	
		Below average health	
		Poor health	
12. How many times per week do you participate in at least 20 minutes of aerobic
      exercise vigorous enough to significantly raise your heart and breathing rate?

		times per week 

13. What is your gender ? Check one 

a.	Male	[     ]

c.	Female	[     ]

14. What is your year in school? (circle the correct choice)

         Freshman     Sophomore     Junior    Senior     Grad Student    Other

15.  Have you taken a course on alternative medicine? (circle the correct choice)

Yes		No  		Don’t Know

16. Please feel free to make any additional comments.

										

										

Thank you so much for completing this anonymous survey.

For further information, you may contact Dr. Roland Lamarine at:
California State University, Chico, CA 95929-0505
(530) 898-6265	or email rlamarine@csuchico.edu