Use of Spiritual Healing Therapy in Relation to Race and Ethnicity Catherine Simile, Ph.D. and Hanyu Ni, Ph.D. Division of Health Interview Statistics National Center for Health Statistics

Background Increasing trend in the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Overall users tend to be women, white, more educated, have higher income and be covered by health insurance

Background--continued Reported high use of spiritual healing and prayer as one of these modalities Unknown relationship between spiritual healing and prayer and race and ethnicity

Objective To examine the utilization of spiritual healing and prayer among US adults in relation to race and ethnicity

Methods Data source: 1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Face-to-face interviews

Methods—cont’d Response rate: Household –90% Sample Adult--70% 30,801 adults aged 18 and older

Measure of Prayer and Spiritual Healing Use in past year Self-reported One of 12 listed CAM therapies and other

Question People may also use alternative health care services. I’d like to ask you about your use of some alternative kinds of therapies and treatments. During the past 12 months have you used...Spiritual healing or prayer?

Other Variables Health insurance coverage (y/n) General health status Race and Ethnicity Hispanic Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Black

Other Variables-cont’d Gender Region of the country Age Education Income Other sociodemographic characteristics

Statistical analysis: Data weighted for population estimates Adjusted for non-response SUDAAN software used to adjust for cluster sample design

Characteristics of study subjects by race/ethnicity Characteristic% Hispanic% NH-White% NH-Black Age Female

Characteristics of study subjects by race/ethnicity-cont’d Characteristic% Hispanic% NH- White% NH-Black Education < Health insurance, yes Family income <$ 20,

Percent of adults who used 13 types of complementary and alternative medicine in the past year: United States, 1999 Modality%95% C. I. Spiritual healing or prayer Herbal medicine Chiropractic therapy Lifestyle diet Massage therapy Relaxation Homeopathy

Percent of adults who used 13 types of complementary and alternative medicine in the past year: United States, 1999-cont’d Characteristic%95% C.I. Imagery Acupuncture Energy Hypnosis Biofeedback Other

Percent Using Spiritual Healing or Prayer by Race/Ethnicity

Gender

Region of the Country

Age

Education (years)

Family Income

Health Insurance

Respondent-Reported Health Status

Use of Spiritual healing or Prayer in relation to race/ethnicity: Results from logistic regression Race/ethnicityOdds Ratio95% CI Model 1 (unadjusted) Hispanic NH-White NH-Black1.00- Model 2* (adjusted) Hispanic NH-White *Adjusted for age, gender, health insurance status, education