Fuschia M. Sirois

An investigation of the health beliefs and motivations of complementary medicine clients

The current study was concerned with factors associated with the use of complementary medicine (CM). The reasons for CM use were examined by dividing complementary medicine clients into two groups based on the frequency and length of their use of complementary therapies, and comparing them with conventional medicine clients as well as to each other. New/infrequent CM clients (n = 70), established CM clients (n = 71), and orthodox medicine clients (n = 58) were distinguished on the basis of health beliefs, socio-demographic, medical, and personality variables. Different patterns of predictors of CM use emerged depending on which client groups were compared. In general, health-aware behaviors and dissatisfaction with conventional medicine were the best predictors of overall and initial/ infrequent CM use, and more frequent health-aware behaviors were associated with continued CM use. Medical need also influenced the choice to use CM, and was the best predictor of committed CM use, with the established CM clients reporting more health problems than the new/infrequent CM group. Overall, income was a significant discriminator, but did not predict initial or continued CM use. Openness to new experience was associated with CM use in general, but was most notable in the decision to initially try or explore using CM. The findings support the utility of the three components (predisposing, enabling, and need factors) of the socio-behavioral model for explaining why some people choose CM. Overall, the results of the current study suggest that CM clients need to be looked at in more sophisticated ways, rather than being treated simply as a homogenous group with similar beliefs, motivations and needs.

I'll look after my health, later: an investigation of procrastination and health

A recent study on the negative health consequences of procrastination suggested that procrastination was associated with higher stress and poor health (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). The current investigation sought to clarify and extend these findings by examining the mediational role of stress and health behaviors in the procrastination–illness relationship. It was hypothesized that in addition to stress, a behavioral pathway would be implicated, with poor weliness behaviors and delay in seeking treatment for health problems mediating the effects of procrastination on health. The model was tested with a sample of university students (n=122) during a high stress period. As expected, the results indicated that procrastination related to poorer health, treatment delay, perceived stress, and fewer weilness behaviors. The process analyses supported the mediational role of stress and treatment delay, but not weliness behaviors, in the procrastination–illness relationship. The model is consistent with current conceptualizations of the personality–health relationship, and presents procrastination as a behavioral style that may increase vulnerability for negative health outcomes. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motivations for consulting complementary and alternative medicine practitioners: a comparison of consumers from 1997-8 and 2005.

BackgroundUse of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and especially CAM practitioners, has continued to rise in recent years. Although several motivators of CAM use have been identified, little is known about how and if the motivations for using CAM have changed over time. The purpose of the current study was to compare the reasons for consulting CAM practitioners in consumers in 1997–8 and eight years later in 2005.MethodsSurveys were displayed in CAM and conventional medicine offices and clinics in Ontario, Canada in 1997–8 and again in 2005, and self-selected participants returned the surveys by mail.ResultsIn 1997–8, 141 CAM consumers were identified from the 199 surveys returned, and 185 CAM consumers were identified from the 239 surveys returned in 2005. Five of the six CAM motivations were more likely to be endorsed by the 2005 CAM consumers compared to the 1997–8 CAM consumers (all ps < .0001). In 1997–8 the two top reasons for using CAM were that CAM allowed them to take an active role in their health (51.8%), and because conventional medicine was ineffective for their health problem (41.8%). In 2005, the treatment of the whole person (78.3%) was the top reason for using CAM followed by taking an active role in ones health (76.5%). The 2005 consumers were less educated, had slightly more chronic health complaints, had been using CAM for longer, and were more likely to consult chiropractors, reflexologists, and therapeutic touch practitioners than the 1997–8 consumers. Otherwise, the socio-demographic and health profiles of the two groups of CAM consumers were similar, as was their use of CAM.ConclusionCompared to consumers in 1997–8, consumers in 2005 were more likely to endorse five of the six motivations for consulting CAM practitioners. A shift towards motivations focusing more on the positive aspects of CAM and less on the negative aspects of conventional medicine was also noted for the 2005 consumers. Findings suggest that CAM motivations may shift over time as public knowledge of and experience with CAM also changes.

Provider-based complementary and alternative medicine use among three chronic illness groups: Associations with psychosocial factors and concurrent use of conventional health-care services

OBJECTIVE The focus of this study was to examine the patterns of provider-based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use across three chronic illness groups, and to identify the socio-demographic, health-related, and psychosocial factors associated with CAM use. DESIGN Cross-sectional international survey administered on the Internet to individuals with arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and mixed chronic conditions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Self-reported consultations to CAM providers and to a variety of conventional health-care services made in the previous 6 months. RESULTS 365 surveys were received from people with arthritis (N=140), IBD (N=110), and other chronic conditions (N=115). Overall 38.1% of respondents had used CAM, with rates ranging from 31.8 to 46.1% across the three illness groups. Backward step-wise logistic regression revealed that being female, having more than high school education, a greater number of comorbid conditions, higher perceived control over health and reward motivations, lower stress and less belief that health is governed by chance, were the best predictors of CAM consultations. CAM clients also used a greater variety of conventional health-care services and made more consultations relative to non-CAM clients. CONCLUSIONS In this study the socio-demographic and health status factors associated with CAM consultations in three different chronic illness groups were similar to those found in the general population. CAM use in the study population was also related to higher use and a greater variety of use of conventional health-care services, and with stronger beliefs in the controllability of health and an enduring motivation to seek out rewards.

Learning to live with what you can't rise above: control beliefs, symptom control, and adjustment to tinnitus.

The relations between 3 types of perceived control, symptom severity, and 2 adaptational outcomes, depressive symptoms and psychological well-being, were examined in a sample of 319 people with tinnitus. Consistent with previous studies of control and adjustment to chronic health conditions, general health and symptom control were associated with better psychological adjustment, and retrospective control was associated with worse psychological adjustment. Only symptom control emerged as a significant moderator in the symptom severity-adjustment relationship, such that stronger beliefs in ones ability to control symptoms were most strongly associated with better adjustment among those with more severe tinnitus symptoms. These findings were consistent with coping perspectives and cognitive adaptation theory and suggest that symptom-related perceptions of control may be an effective coping resource to nurture in chronic health contexts with severe symptoms.

Self-compassion, affect, and health-promoting behaviors.

OBJECTIVE Emerging theory and research suggest that self-compassion promotes the practice of health behaviors, and implicates self-regulation as an explanatory factor. However, previous investigations focused only on behavior intentions or health risk behaviors, and did not investigate the role of emotions. This study expands on this research using a small-scale meta-analysis approach with our own data sets to examine the associations of self-compassion with a set of health-promoting behaviors, and test the roles of high positive affect and low negative affect as potential explanatory mechanisms. METHOD Fifteen independent samples (N = 3,252) with correlations of self-compassion with the frequency of self-reported health-promoting behaviors (eating habits, exercise, sleep behaviors, and stress management) were meta-analyzed. Eight of these samples completed measures of positive and negative affect. RESULTS Self-compassion was positively associated with the practice of health-promoting behaviors across all 15 samples. The meta-analysis revealed a small effect size (average r = .25; p < .001) of self-compassion and health behaviors, with low variability. Tests of the indirect effects of self-compassion on health behaviors through positive and negative affect with multiple mediator analyses revealed small effects for each. Separate meta-analyses of the indirect effects (IE) were significant for positive (average IE = .08; p < .001) and negative affect (average IE = .06; p < .001), and their combined indirect effects (average IE = .15; p < .0001). CONCLUSION Self-compassion may be an important quality to cultivate for promoting positive health behaviors, due in part to its association with adaptive emotions.

Procrastination and stress: Exploring the role of self-compassion.

Although previous research has demonstrated that procrastinators experience high levels of stress, less is known about why procrastination is linked to stress. This study is the first to investigate self-compassion as a mediator of the relationship between trait procrastination and stress. Across four samples (145 undergraduates, 339 undergraduates, 190 undergraduates, and 94 community adults) trait procrastination was associated with lower levels of self-compassion and higher levels of stress. A meta-analysis of these effects revealed a moderate negative association of procrastination with self-compassion. In all four samples, self-compassion mediated the relationship between stress and procrastination. These findings suggest that lower levels of self-compassion may explain some of the stress experienced by procrastinators and interventions that promote self-compassion could therefore be beneficial for these individuals.

Procrastination and counterfactual thinking: Avoiding what might have been

The possible negative consequences of counterfactuals were explored in the current study by examining the relationship between counterfactual direction and trait procrastination, a self-defeating behavioural style. Eighty participants generated counterfactuals in response to two experimental anxiety inductions. Trait procrastination was overall related to avoiding thoughts about how things could have been better (making more downward and relatively fewer upward counterfactuals) in response to the two anxiety-provoking scenarios, suggesting the involvement of a self-enhancement motive (mood repair). Evidence for the involvement of this self-motive in procrastinating behaviour also emerged, as procrastination was more related to making more downward counterfactuals for a delay-specific anxiety scenario than for a general anxiety scenario. The pattern of results supports the proposal that downward counterfactuals may be associated with negative behavioural styles such as procrastination and implicates self-enhancement motives in this relationship. The behavioural and motivational consequences of downward counterfactuals are discussed and possible connections between downward counterfactuals and other self-defeating behaviours are presented.

Beyond standard quality of life measures: the subjective experiences of living with inflammatory bowel disease

IntroductionIn order to facilitate our understanding of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, it is critical to explore their subjective experiences with the disease. Research has suggested that current modes of assessing HRQoL (i.e., generic and disease-specific measures) may not fully represent all dimensions of patients’ HRQoL. The purpose of this study was to examine IBD patients’ subjective experiences of the daily impact of IBD, and categorize dimensions of their HRQoL affected by IBD, as identified by the patients themselves.MethodsTwo hundred and eighty-two patients with IBD provided answers to the qualitative question “How has IBD affected your daily activities?” A content analysis using NVivo 2.0 was conducted on the participants’ responses to this question to reveal dimensions of their HRQoL.ResultsThe analysis yielded six dimensions and several subdimensions of HRQoL, including physical (systemic functioning, daily functioning, energy/vitality, pain), emotional, social, cognitive (functioning, attending to disease), self-regulation (taking control, loss of control, and neutral), and practical functioning.DiscussionThese results reflect previous findings, but also reveal several dimensions of HRQoL not included in current measures of HRQoL for IBD patients (i.e., cognitive, self-regulation, and practical). The implications of these findings for future measurement of HRQoL and research with IBD patients are discussed.

Out of Sight, Out of Time? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Time Perspective

Recent theory suggests that trait procrastination is a form of temporal self–regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between the present and future self. Yet research to date is sparse and inconsistent regarding the nature of the associations of procrastination with time perspective. The current study aimed to meta–analytically summarize the evidence to date to address the question of how procrastination is linked to future and present time perspective, and to test whether stress and positive affect explained the link between procrastination and future time perspective. A search of the available literature yielded six published studies and three unpublished studies, which were combined with five unpublished data sets for a total of 14 samples with 4312 participants. The meta–analysis revealed that procrastination had a moderate and significant negative association with future time perspective, and a small but significant positive association with present time perspective. Mediation analyses across two of the samples found that high stress and low positive affect explained in part the association between procrastination and future time perspective. Overall, these findings support the notion that procrastinators focus less on the future and highlight the dynamic interrelations of affect and cognition that underlie procrastinators’ intertemporal choices. Copyright