Date of Award

2016

Degree Name

Psychology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Penny Koontz

Second Advisor

April Fugett

Third Advisor

Brittany Canady

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) usage has increased throughout the years, as many people are becoming interested in using less conventional interventions for common illnesses. As a whole, CAM encompasses any practice used to treat an illness or disorder that does not fall under the category of traditional medicine. CAM interventions not only treat the physical aspects of health, but as clinicians are beginning to realize, these interventions may also be effective in treating psychological problems, most notably anxiety and depression. This research focused on attitudes toward CAM for psychological disorders. I examined participants’ attitudes about the use of CAM in relation to psychological symptoms. I hypothesized that younger participants will have more positive attitudes toward CAM than will older participants. I also aimed to determine if differences emerge based on other demographic variables, such as gender or personal experience with CAM. I hypothesized that women and participants with more experience with CAM will also hold more positive attitudes. I developed a Likert scale survey with 20 statements for participants to rate from 1 (I strongly disagree with the statement) to 5 (I strongly agree with the statement). These questions focused on determining the participants’ attitudes toward the use of CAM for mental health treatment. In addition, participants were asked to provide their age, gender, and degree of experience with CAM. I found that females held more positive attitudes than males, older participants held more positive attitudes than did younger participants, and past usage had no effect on attitudes.

Subject(s)

Alternative medicine.

Depression, Mental -- Treatment.

Anxiety -- Treatment.

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