Blackmores Institute

Data on the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) from the 2016 Singapore Mental Health Study – an epidemiological study examining the prevalence of mental illness in the general Singaporean population - was analysed with results showing that the five most commonly used types of CAM were prayer or other spiritual practise, followed by exercise and movement therapy, massage therapy, relaxation or meditation techniques and acupuncture.
 The study noted that Chinese used CAM the least (5.9%), followed by Indians (7.6%) and Malays (8.1%) and that in general, respondents who reported using CAM in the past 12 months were not significantly different from non-users of CAM in terms of their physical component scores with only Role-Physical and Bodily Pain sub-scores showing significant differences between the two groups.
“Among the Chinese, females and those who never married were more likely to use CAM in the past 12 months. Unemployment was associated with higher odds of CAM use and those who met the criteria for a mental disorder had 3.74 times higher odds of using CAM than those who did not. Age, education and income level were not found to be associated with CAM use,” the authors reported."The study also found that among the Malays, older adults (65 years and above) were found to have lower odds of using CAM compared to young adults (18 to 34 years). Higher educational level were also found to be significantly associated with greater CAM use and similar to the Chinese, Malays who fulfilled the criteria for a mental illness diagnosis had higher odds of using CAM within the past year. Gender, employment and income were not found to be associated with CAM use.
“Among the Indians, females were twice as likely to go for CAM treatment as opposed to males, like the Chinese. Those who were single and divorced (or separated) were more likely to use CAM compared to those who were married. Unemployment and lower income were also associated with greater use of CAM. Like the other two ethnic groups, Indians who fulfilled the criteria for a mental disorder had higher odds of using CAM,” the authors said.
 “Analyses further revealed that across all ethnicities, having a mental disorder increased the odds of using CAM by at least 3.6 times, a finding similarly observed in a recent US study. A possible explanation for this increased use is that compared to conventional clinical health services for mental health, CAM therapies are more easily accessible, and the use of CAM for mental illness is associated with less stigma as well. Another possible reason could be that the cost of CAM is relatively lower than that of conventional healthcare.”
 
"The researchers assert that these findings have implications on the delivery of health care to people with mental illness in clinical settings, namely, considerations by conventional health providers on whether their patients are also using CAM, and tailor their treatment programs accordingly, with the same applying to CAM practitioners.
 
"Ultimately, the quality of mental health care and illness management can be facilitated by improved coordination between conventional mental health specialists and CAM practitioners, to provide more holistic treatment plans for patients with mental illness.
 
 Despite differences between ethnicities, having a mental illness significantly increased CAM use in Singapore regardless of ethnicity. This highlights the need for communication and collaboration between conventional and CAM providers to facilitate detection, planning and treatment of mental illness,” the authors concluded.
 
 Source:
 BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020. DOI: 10.1186/s12906-020-2843-7

Use of complementary and alternative medicine is more likely to be used ny Singaporeans with mental health concerns, prompting researchers to call for better communication and collaboration between conventional and CAM health professionals, a new study in BMC Complementary Medicines and Therapies reports.

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