A Sociobehavioral Model of Acupuncture Use, Patterns, and Satisfaction Among Women in the United States, 2002

Upchurch, Dawn M.; Burke, Adam; Dye, Claire; Chyu, Laura; Kusunoki, Yasamin; Greendale, Gail A.

doi:10.1016/j.whi.2007.08.003

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Volume 18, Issue 1 , Pages 62-71, January 2008

A Sociobehavioral Model of Acupuncture Use, Patterns, and Satisfaction Among Women in the United States, 2002

Dawn M. Upchurch, PhD
- UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California
- Dawn M. Upchurch, PhD, is a health demographer and Professor of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has researched many aspects of women’s health for over 20 years, most recently focusing on women’s health and well-being during midlife. Currently, she is also investigating women’s use of complementary and alternative medicine, including acupuncture.
- Correspondence to: Dr Dawn M. Upchurch, Professor, UCLA School of Public Health, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, California 90095-1772.
Adam Burke, PhD, MPH, LAc
- Institute for Holistic Health Healing Studies, Department of Health Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
- Adam Burke, LAc, MPH, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Education and Director of the Institute for Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University. Research activities include curricular innovation, traditional medicine utilization/integration, and mental imagery.
Claire Dye, MSPH
- UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California
- Claire Dye, MSPH, is a Community Health Sciences doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health. Her work explores the impact of changes in sociodemographic and health status on midlife women’s sexual health.
Laura Chyu, MA
- UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California
- Laura Chyu, MA, is a Community Health Sciences doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health. Her research integrates biological and social processes in understanding women’s health across the life course.
Yasamin Kusunoki, MPH
- UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California
- Yasamin Kusunoki, PhD, MPH, is a recent graduate of the Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan and studies reproductive health issues across the life course, with a focus on the role of social contexts and intimate relationships.
Gail A. Greendale, MD
- UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Los Angeles, California
- Gail A. Greendale, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her area of research concentration is women’s health, with emphasis on menopause, osteoporosis and health-promoting behaviors.

Received 9 March 2007; accepted 20 August 2007. published online 10 December 2007.

Objectives

To examine the correlates of recent acupuncture use among American women, applying a sociobehavioral model of utilization of conventional health care. Patterns of use, satisfaction, and reasons for acupuncture use are also examined.

Methods

The 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is used, which included the Alternative Health/Complementary Alternative Medicine Supplement. All analyses and estimates used the NHIS individual-level sampling weights; variance estimates were adjusted to account for complex sample design. Bivariate statistics and logistic regression were used. We included data from 17,112 women.

Results

Prevalence of recent acupuncture use was low (1.1%), but translates to >1.2 million American women. Multivariate results showed the effects of race and ethnicity on acupuncture use were contingent on educational level. Women living in the West were more likely to use acupuncture, as were women with fair health status, former smokers, current moderate/heavy alcohol users, and women with a higher body mass index. Women tended to use acupuncture for conditions not commonly well treated by conventional medicine (e.g., chronic pain) and the majority reported using acupuncture in conjunction with conventional medicine.

Conclusions

Predisposing and enabling factors, as well as medical need and personal health practices, are associated with women’s recent use of acupuncture services, including several that are also associated with conventional health care services.