Support for non-conventional medicine: Cognitive and socio-cultural coherence

This study investigated patterns of beliefs concerning CAM (complementary/ alternative medicine) in 403 subjects in Israel. Multidimensional scaling and Generalised linear model analyses of their answer to a questionnaire evidenced two sources of organizing factors : (1) commitment to CAM approaches and techniques is dependent on the specific approach, and this differentiation may be related to corresponding explanatory principles such as Powerful Action, Healthy Living, and Fighting Stress and (2) broad support for CAM in general, correlated with New Age ideological cultural themes (ecology, the paranormal, Eastern wisdom) which share an underlying framework of demedicalization. It did not prove possible to cluster respondents into types, and factor analysis uncovered but a single factor. This suggests that subjects combine the organizing factors in a pragmatic blend, a finding congruent with a post-modern interpretation that emphasises the blending of high and low, ideological and practical.