The AKU questionnaire as a research tool in CAM

Büssing A, Matthiessen PF, Ostermann T

Department of Medical Theory and Complementary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Witten/Herdecke, Germany

Objective

We analysed adaptive coping strategies resp. strategies to maintain health and CAM preferences in elderly health-policyholders (n = 5305), and patients with chronic diseases (n = 464).

Materials and methods

All individuals gave informed consent to participate and completed the AKU questionnaire. Reliability and factor analysis of the 33-item construct revealed an alpha = 0.884 and six factors (explain 54.4% of variance): Trust in God (TG); Information and Medical Help (IMH); Illness as Chance (IC); Healthy Living and Change of Life (HLCL); Perspectives & Positivism (PP); Search for Alternatives and Help (SAH).

Results

The highest AKU scores were found for HLCL, IMH and PP, while SAH and TG raised intermediate levels; IC had the lowest score. Cancer patients had significantly higher scores for TG, IMH, IC, HLCL and PP than other patients with chronic diseases or healthy individuals (F > 3.0; P < 0.02). Non-smokers had higher scores for HLCL, TG and IMH than smokers (F > 8.0; P < 0.001). Physical health (SF-12) significantly correlated with IMH (r =–0.295), but not with HLCL or PP. With respect to CAM preferences we found that IMH correlates significantly with utilisation of medical doctors and frequency of healer attendance (r > 0.25), while SAM correlates with utilisation of healers (r > 0.18). Preference for CAM correlates with SAM (r = 0.233), and to a lower extend with IC (r = 0.158), while preference of school medicine correlates with IMH (r = 0.119); decision to change medical preferences correlates with SAM (r = 0.119).

Conclusion

The AKU questionnaire can be used as a reliable tool to analyse adaptive coping styles and strategies to maintain health in CAM.

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