J Formos Med Assoc. 1994 Mar; 93 Suppl 1(): S49-55.

[Factors related to the choice of clinic between Chinese traditional medicine and Western medicine]

Kang JT, Lee CF, Chen CF, Chou P.

Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taiwan, R.O.C.

The study applied Andersen's health-service utilization model to analyze the basic demographic, enabling and need factors related to the choice of traditional Chinese medicine clinic or modern Western medicine clinic by single-method-treatment (i.e. traditional Chinese medicine or modern Western medicine only) patients. During the period from August 1989 to October 1989, systemic sampling was done and a structured questionnaire survey was carried out among patients from the Out-patient Departments of 13 teaching hospitals accepting reimbursement by Labor Medical Insurance in Taiwan. The total number of valid respondents was 579: 378 (65.3%) were visiting modern Western medicine clinics and 201 (34.7%), traditional Chinese medicine clinics. There were 339 (58.6%) males and 240 (41.4%) females, aged from 15 to 85 years old, with a mean of 40.7 years. Under univariate analysis, the significant variables (p < 0.05) related to visiting the two types of clinics were: nativity, religious belief, career, general health condition, severity of illness of this episode, types of disorder as neuromusculoskeletal, digestive, circulatory, endocrine-metabolic and sense-and-skin. By logistic regression analysis, the significant variables (p < 0.05) relating to visiting two types of clinics were religion, career, and two kinds of disorders. Folk-religion believers, farmers and businessmen favored traditional Chinese medicine; and patients who suffered from musculoskeletal, sense organs or skin disorders were also likely to visit traditional Chinese medicine clinics.