IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v328y2023ics027795362300309x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diversity of attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and vaccines: A representative cross-sectional study in France

Author

Listed:
  • Ward, Jeremy K.
  • Gauna, Fatima
  • Deml, Michael J.
  • MacKendrick, Norah
  • Peretti-Watel, Patrick

Abstract

How much does endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) correlate with negative attitudes towards vaccines? One of the difficulties of analysing the relationship between attitudes to CAM and attitudes towards vaccines rests in the complexity of both. Which form of CAM endorsement is associated with what type of reticence towards vaccines? While the literature on the relationship between CAM and attitudes towards vaccines is growing, this question has not yet been explored. In this study we present the results of a survey conducted in July 2021 among a representative sample of the French mainland adult population (n = 3087). Using cluster analysis, we identified five profiles of CAM attitudes and found that even among the most pro-CAM group, very few respondents disagreed with the idea that CAM should only be used as a complement to conventional medicine. We then compared these CAM attitudes to vaccine attitudes. Attitudes to CAM had a distinct impact as well as a combined effect on attitudes to different vaccines and vaccines in general. However, we also found a) that attitudes to CAM provide a very limited explanation of vaccine hesitancy and b) that, among the hesitant, pro-CAM attitudes are often combined with other traits associated with vaccine hesitancy such as distrust of health agencies, radical political preferences and low income. Indeed, we found that both CAM endorsement and vaccine hesitancy are more prevalent among the socially disadvantaged. Drawing on these results, we argue that, to better understand the relationship between CAM and vaccine hesitancy, it is necessary to look at how both can reflect lack of access and recourse to mainstream medicine and distrust of public institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ward, Jeremy K. & Gauna, Fatima & Deml, Michael J. & MacKendrick, Norah & Peretti-Watel, Patrick, 2023. "Diversity of attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and vaccines: A representative cross-sectional study in France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:328:y:2023:i:c:s027795362300309x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115952
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362300309X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115952?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nathalie Bajos & Alexis Spire & Léna Silberzan & Florence Jusot, 2022. "The social specificities of hostility toward vaccination against Covid-19 in France," Post-Print hal-04002394, HAL.
    2. Vanderslott, Samantha, 2019. "Exploring the meaning of pro-vaccine activism across two countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 59-66.
    3. Attwell, Katie & Ward, Paul R. & Meyer, Samantha B. & Rokkas, Philippa J. & Leask, Julie, 2018. "“Do-it-yourself”: Vaccine rejection and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 106-114.
    4. Deml, Michael J. & Notter, Julia & Kliem, Paulina & Buhl, Andrea & Huber, Benedikt M. & Pfeiffer, Constanze & Burton-Jeangros, Claudine & Tarr, Philip E., 2019. "“We treat humans, not herds!”: A qualitative study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers’ individualized approaches to vaccination in Switzerland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    5. J Ward & C. Alleaume & P Peretti-Watel & V. Seror & S Cortaredona & O. Launay & Jocelyn Raude & P. Verger & F. Beck & S. Legleye & Olivier L’haridon, 2020. "The French public's attitudes to a future COVID-19 vaccine: The politicization of a public health issue," Post-Print hal-03004549, HAL.
    6. Hornsey, Matthew J. & Lobera, Josep & Díaz-Catalán, Celia, 2020. "Vaccine hesitancy is strongly associated with distrust of conventional medicine, and only weakly associated with trust in alternative medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    7. Peretti-Watel, Patrick & Raude, Jocelyn & Sagaon-Teyssier, Luis & Constant, Aymery & Verger, Pierre & Beck, François, 2014. "Attitudes toward vaccination and the H1N1 vaccine: Poor people's unfounded fears or legitimate concerns of the elite?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 10-18.
    8. Katie Attwell & Samantha B. Meyer & Paul R. Ward, 2018. "The Social Basis of Vaccine Questioning and Refusal: A Qualitative Study Employing Bourdieu’s Concepts of ‘Capitals’ and ‘Habitus’," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Ward, Jeremy K. & Alleaume, Caroline & Peretti-Watel, Patrick, 2020. "The French public's attitudes to a future COVID-19 vaccine: The politicization of a public health issue," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christophe Leveque & Haris Megzari, 2022. "Intensification or Diversification: Responses by Anti Health-Pass Entrepreneurs to French Government Announcements," Working Papers hal-03624964, HAL.
    2. Christophe LEVEQUE & Haris MEGZARI, 2022. "Intensification or Diversification: Responses by Anti Health-Pass Entrepreneurs to French Government Announcements," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2022-04, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    3. Christophe Lévêque & Haris Megzari, 2023. "Intensification or diversification: responses by anti health-pass entrepreneurs to French government announcements," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 553-583, December.
    4. Vincenzo Carrieri & Raffele Lagravinese & Giuliano Resce, 2021. "Predicting vaccine hesitancy from area‐level indicators: A machine learning approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3248-3256, December.
    5. Kay Fullenkamp, Natalie, 2021. "Playing Russian roulette with their kids: Experts' construction of ignorance in the California and Ohio measles outbreaks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Yuen, Vera W.H., 2023. "The efficacy of health experts’ communication in inducing support for COVID-19 measures and effect on trustworthiness: A survey in Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    7. Wu, Jian & Shen, Zhanlei & Li, Quanman & Tarimo, Clifford Silver & Wang, Meiyun & Gu, Jianqin & Wei, Wei & Zhang, Xinyu & Huang, Yanli & Ma, Mingze & Xu, Dongyang & Ojangba, Theodora & Miao, Yudong, 2023. "How urban versus rural residency relates to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A large-scale national Chinese study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    8. Galetsi, Panagiota & Katsaliaki, Korina & Kumar, Sameer, 2022. "The medical and societal impact of big data analytics and artificial intelligence applications in combating pandemics: A review focused on Covid-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    9. Hess, Stephane & Lancsar, Emily & Mariel, Petr & Meyerhoff, Jürgen & Song, Fangqing & van den Broek-Altenburg, Eline & Alaba, Olufunke A. & Amaris, Gloria & Arellana, Julián & Basso, Leonardo J. & Ben, 2022. "The path towards herd immunity: Predicting COVID-19 vaccination uptake through results from a stated choice study across six continents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    10. Becchetti, Leonardo & Candio, Paolo & Salustri, Francesco, 2021. "Vaccine uptake and constrained decision making: The case of Covid-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    11. Schultz, Émilien & Mancini, Julien & Ward, Jeremy K., 2023. "What does the French public consider to be a conflict of interest for medical researchers?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    12. Mendolia, Silvia & Walker, Ian, 2023. "COVID-19 vaccination intentions and subsequent uptake: An analysis of the role of marginalisation in society using British longitudinal data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    13. Backhaus, Insa & Hoven, Hanno & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2023. "Far-right political ideology and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: Multilevel analysis of 21 European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    14. Nathalie Bajos & Alexis Spire & Léna Silberzan & Antoine Sireyjol & Florence Jusot & Laurence Meyer & Jeanna-Eve Franck & Josiane Warszawski, 2022. "When Lack of Trust in the Government and in Scientists Reinforces Social Inequalities in Vaccination Against COVID-19," Post-Print hal-03959619, HAL.
    15. Marc Debus & Jale Tosun, 2021. "Political ideology and vaccination willingness: implications for policy design," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(3), pages 477-491, September.
    16. van Mulukom, Valerie & Pummerer, Lotte J. & Alper, Sinan & Bai, Hui & Čavojová, Vladimíra & Farias, Jessica & Kay, Cameron S. & Lazarevic, Ljiljana B. & Lobato, Emilio J.C. & Marinthe, Gaëlle & Pavela, 2022. "Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    17. Choi, Yongjin & Fox, Ashley M., 2022. "Mistrust in public health institutions is a stronger predictor of vaccine hesitancy and uptake than Trust in Trump," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    18. Awijen, Haithem & Ben Zaied, Younes & Nguyen, Duc Khuong, 2022. "Covid-19 vaccination, fear and anxiety: Evidence from Google search trends," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    19. Željko Pavić & Emma Kovačević & Adrijana Šuljok, 2023. "Health literacy, religiosity, and political identification as predictors of vaccination conspiracy beliefs: a test of the deficit and contextual models," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    20. Valtonen, Jussi & Ilmarinen, Ville-Juhani & Lönnqvist, Jan-Erik, 2023. "Political orientation predicts the use of conventional and complementary/alternative medicine: A survey study of 19 European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vaccine hesitancy; CAM; France;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:328:y:2023:i:c:s027795362300309x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.