The role of complementary medicine health literacy in health communication and decision-making

Abstract

Abstract Background Globally, complementary medicine (CM) product use is high-including vitamins, minerals and herbal medicines. The overuse of CM raises concerns about medicine sustainability that are critical considerations for human and planetary health. Poor CM health literacy may lead to the unnecessary use of CM. This is the first study to explore associations between CM use, CM health literacy, and concurrent use of CM with conventional health care in an Australian population with a view to identifying priority areas for intervention. Methods Cross-sectional online study of Australian adults (N = 2019). A 50-item survey measured demographic and health characteristics, health care and treatment use, medicine use disclosure to health care providers, and CM health literacy. Descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlations and Chi-square analysis were used to analyse preliminary findings. Results In the previous year 49.1% of participants used a CM product. A greater proportion of those who used CM products (88.7%, <0.001), compared to those who did not, used a prescription or over-the-counter pharmaceutical. Lower levels of CM health literacy were associated with herbal supplement use (not vitamin/mineral supplement use) and with disclosing CM use to a medical doctor or pharmacist (p < 0.01). Those who consulted with a GP, specialist or pharmacist, who self-prescribed CM, or used both CM and pharmaceutical medicines had better CM health literacy (p < 0.001) than those who did not. Conversely, those who consulted a CM practitioner had lower CM health literacy than those who did not (p < 0.001). Conclusions The findings suggest that people with lower CM health literacy may be unsure about using CM products, while those with better CM health literacy may have more self-efficacy for making treatment decisions. Interventions are needed to improve public CM health literacy and encourage shared decision-making to ensure safe, effective and sustainable treatment decisions. Key messages People with higher levels of CM health literacy appear to have greater self-efficacy for making treatment decisions, while those with lower CM health literacy are more likely to seek treatment advice. Interventions are needed to ensure people using CM products are communicating with health practitioners about their treatment choices to facilitate safe, effective and sustainable treatment decisions.