PURPOSE
This descriptive study was conducted to identify the use of complementary and alternative therapies, and the perception and attitudes toward CAT in Korean adults.
METHODS
The 1,010 study subjects were recruited from ten regions in South Korea. Data were collected from July to September, 2004.
RESULTS
The 43.2% of the sample(n=436) had an experience of using CAT. The subjects using CAT was more likely to have high score in the CAT perception compared to the subjects with no experience of CAT(p=.001). The primary source of information about CAT was mass media(59.7%). The 52.4% of the sample answered that CAT was supplementary and the 27.7% answered CAT was applicable to chronic pain or musculoskeletal disorders. Subjects(34.8%) pointed out that the greatest problem was no scientific informant in the use of CAT. The primary reason of using CAT was to maintain their health or to prevent disease(44.0%), and the 59.0% of the subjects responded that CAT was effective. Majority of subjects were satisfied with CAT(63.3%) and experienced no side effects of CAT(90.6%).
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that professional counseling and education for CAT is needed for Korean public as well as the research approach to test the effects of CAT.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to develop a fundamental reference for the clinical implementation of Complementary and Alternative Therapy(CAT) by surveying and analyzing different perception and attitude between nurses and physicians.
METHOD
A total of 167 nurses and 103 physicians from two C university health science centers participated in this survey, and SPSS program with version 10.0 was used to analyze the result of survey.
RESULT
As results, 72.7% nurses and 57.1% physicians showed positive attitude for the concept of CAT, 60.6% nurses and 36.7% physicians responded positively while 2.6% nurses and 25.9% physicians responded negatively for the application of CAT to the clinical practice. There was a meaningful difference between two groups in the belief of therapeutic effectiveness of CAT. 67.7% nurses believed the therapeutic effectiveness of CAT while 38.8% physicians did. For attitudes of nurses and physicians toward CAT showed meaningful difference according to general characteristics: age, gender, marital status, a level of education, position in the organization, religion, and duration of health care service other than inpatient units.
CONCLUSION
In this study, the attitudes of nurses and physicians about CAT showed meaningful difference that nurses were more positive than physicians in application.

PURPOSE
This study is to analyze the research trends centering on the theses related to CAT released in nursing of Korea. METHOD: The researcher collected the academic degrees and theses published on the book of the academic society from 1980 to 2001, and examined 88 domestic dissertations on nursing science of the CAT. RESULT: 1) By department, the results were: the nursing thesis 88(43.3%), medical field 45(22.1%), psychology-counseling education 28(14%). 2) In the type of the CAT in nursing, the results were: acupressure 28(31.5%), Dan-Jeon Breathing 14(15.7%), aroma therapy 5(5.6%) in order. 3) The number of theses increased every year after 1997. 4) As for the type of study design, the results were: the experimental research had the most(47), and the survey research(30). 5) As for the subject, the results were: patients with disease(44), healthy adults(29), literature(9) and medical staff were only 6 theses. 6) In the theme of the theses, the results were: the effect of therapy(76), the experience of therapy(26), adaptation of nursing of therapy(11) and literature review were 7. CONCLUSION: More research needs to be encouraged in the unsatisfactory fields. Researches should be conducted to extend into the practical fields as Korean nursing mediation, project for the establishment of health policies should be conducted.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of the user of complementary?alternative therapies(CAT) and to identify the important predictive factors associated with them.
METHOD
This study included 142 patients attending outpatient rheumatology clinics of D Hospital in Busan between July and August in 2001. The multiple logistic regression model was developed to estimate the likelihood of user or nonuser of CAT.
RESULT
The duration of illness and chance score of health locus of control were found to be significant factors through the estimated coefficients of using CAT. Duration of illness is longer and chance score of health locus of control is higher in patients who have used CAT in past than that of nonuser. When the model performance was evaluated by comparing the observed outcome with predicted outcome, the model correctly identified 95% of user of CAT and 31% of nonuser.
CONCLUSION
In this survey, duration of illness and chance score of health locus of control are found to be significant factors in predicting utilization of CAT. Nurses who care for rheumatoid arthritis patients should take consideration into health locus of control in planning health education programs.

PURPOSE
This study was performed to develop a scale for evaluation of attitudes toward complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) and to investigate nurses' attitudes toward CAT.
METHOD
The subjects were 263 nurses working at a university hospital in Seoul and Inchon. The personally designed questionnaire was tested for its reliability and validity. Nurses' attitudes to CAT were evaluated using the questionnaire.
RESULTS
Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.7405. 23 items were selected by item analysis and 4 factors including application, therapeutic effect, social interest and communication about CAT were classified by factor analysis. The mean score of attitudes and its subcategories were high, especially that of communication was very high. Nurses had a positive response to CAT in several items; acceptance as nursing intervention, its therapeutic value, complement for conventional medicine, and open communication about CAT. Attitudes were different significantly according to education and number of working years. There were high relationships between attitudes and its subcategories except communication.
CONCLUSION
The Scale of attitudes toward CAT was proven to be reliable and valid. Positive nurses' attitudes toward CAT will help the patients be provided with a proper and safe way to take CAT.