The relationship between gender and preference to complementary and alternative medicine among employees aged 20-60 years with moderate or high risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in De La Salle Health Sciences Institute

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was done to investigate the relationship between gender and preference to complementary and alternative medicine among employees aged 20-60 years with moderate or high risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in De La Salle Health Sciences Institute. A total of 225 employees were screened for type 2 diabetes mellitus risk using the FINDRISK assessment tool. The investigators used purposive sampling as method of selection for male and female employees that represented the study population. Health-seeking behavior was evaluated using complementary and alternative medicine assessment tool (CAMAT). It was found out that majority of males (63%) preferred to use CAM, choosing organic food diet (36%) as the best CAM modality in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Compared to female whose majority (62%) desired to use Biomedicine, most of them preferred to consult physician and rely on doctor\u27s advice (72%). Prevalence ratio showed that male employees with moderate or high risk for diabetes mellitus type 2 are 1.65 times more likely to prefer to use CAM than female employees. Using chi-square test, significant difference between gender and CAM preference was observed. (p-value=0.0295, confidence level = 0.05. Moreover, socio-economic status, educational attainment and type of collar job were found to be not significant in choosing CAM as health-seeking approach