Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Attitudes and Beliefs about Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use among Cancer Patients
Table 1
Factor loadings and communalities based on a principal components analysis*.
Components
Expected benefits
Perceived barriers
Social norms
I expect using CAM will decrease my emotional distress
.88
−.15
.20
I expect using CAM will reduce symptoms such as pain or fatigue related to cancer and its treatment
.86
−.14
.25
I expect using CAM will prevent future development of health problems
.75
−.09
.28
I expect using CAM will help me cope with the experience of having cancer
.91
−.11
.17
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because it may interfere with the conventional cancer treatment
−.29
.66
−.07
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because treatments may have side effects
−.19
.74
−.05
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because treatments cost too much money
.05
.59
.02
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because it is hard to find good practitioners
.17
.69
.02
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because I do not have time to go to CAM treatments
−.14
.63
−.11
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because I do not have knowledge about CAM treatments
−.13
.56
−.24
I am unlikely or hesitant about using CAM because I do not have transportation to CAM treatments
−.12
.50
.05
My health care providers (e.g., doctors, nurses, etc.) encourage me to use CAM
.17
−.10
.74
My health care providers (e.g., doctors, nurses, etc.) are open to my use of CAM
.18
−.18
.76
Other cancer patients think I should use CAM
.15
−.02
.77
My online support group encourages me to try CAM
.23
.09
.68
Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization.
*Rotation converged in 5 iterations.
