Health Status and the Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in the Community Dwelling Pre-elderly and Elderly

Chung, Myung Sill; Lim, Kyung Choon

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.