Why Urban Citizens in Developing Countries Use Traditional Medicines: The Case of Suriname
Table 5
Variables that best explained the variability in use of traditional medicines in the last 12 months. Information on the most parsimonious model obtained when using AIC or BIC during model selection is presented. Negative values for the deviance to the reference level imply a lower probability of TM use than the reference group (deviance = 0).
Variables
(%)
Slope of covariates
Deviance to reference
Std. error
Pairwise comparison with reference level
value
value
Best model based on AIC
Religion
Christian (reference level)
178 (66)
0
—
—
—
Winti
6 (2)
−0.1676
0.1883
−0.9
0.3742
Hindu
39 (14)
−0.2734
0.0776
−3.5
0.0005
***
Muslim and other
47 (17)
−0.2180
0.0704
−3.1
0.0022
**
Number of children in household
0.0273
0.0140
20.
0.0522
.
Plant knowledge (number of spp.)
0.0108
0.0160
0.7
0.5020
Illness last 12 months
Yes (reference level)
174 (64)
0
—
—
—
None
96 (36)
−0.5032
0.1101
−4.6
***
Marital status
Single or LAT (reference level)
0
—
—
—
Married/cohabiting
−0.1173
0.0530
−2.2
0.0279
*
Received information on herbs
From family, friends, and so on (reference level)
194 (72)
0
—
—
—
None
76 (28)
−0.1946
0.0591
−3.3
0.0011
**
Attitude medical staff towards patients
Good (reference level)
94 (35)
0
—
—
—
Does not know
3 (1)
0.0531
0.2466
0.2
0.8298
Has experienced bad attitude
173 (64)
−0.1355
0.0550
−2.5
0.0143
*
Opinion of religion on traditional medicine
Positive (reference level)
95 (35)
0
—
—
—
Critical (depends on priest/type of TM)
74 (27)
−0.1994
0.0691
−2.9
0.0042
**
Does not know
66 (24)
−0.1590
0.0715
−2.2
0.0271
*
Negative
35 (13)
−0.2110
0.0852
−2.5
0.0139
**
Illness * plant knowledge
Yes (reference level)
174 (64)
0
—
—
—
No
96 (36)
0.0727
0.0235
3.1
0.0022
**
Best model based on BIC
Received information on herbs
From family, friends, and so on
194 (72)
0
None
76 (28)
−1.0551
0.3135
−3.4
0.0008
***
Illness last 12 months
Yes
174 (64)
0
None
96 (36)
−2.7597
0.7834
−3.5
0.0004
***
Plant knowledge (number of spp.)
0.1102
0.0941
1.2
0.2415
Illness last 12 months * plant knowledge
Yes
174 (64)
0
None
96 (36)
0.4598
0.1870
2.5
0.0139
*
Because of rounding, percentages do not always total 100. Continuous variable.
*Level of significance: .: almost significant; *; **; ***. values < 0.05 are considered significant.
