Most of these people employed alternative treatment in conjunction with or as a supplement to conventional medical treatment. Knowledge empowers them and they do not accept physicians decision without asking any questions. Knowledge empowers them and they do not accept physicians decision without asking any questions. To explain why poorer health is a predictor of alternative treatment use, Astin comments that poorer health by definition means less success with conventional treatment and because of continued suffering they like to try some other form of treatment hoping for a relief. Research also suggests that somatizers use medical service too often and look for varieties of treatment modalities, alternative health care may be one such choice.
Human behavior is complex.
Why does one choose alternative treatment is influenced by many factors. The present retrospective study design is not perfect and there are certain limitations such as interpretation of a question may be based on religious belief that is not picked up here. Another limitation may be that this study underrepresented less educated and the poorer section of the population. So the results may have been inflated towards alternative health care seekers. In any case, Astin believes that this study allows the conventional health care professional to tune to their patients' need and most importantly may motivate biomedical community, governmental agencies, insurance companies, and managed care organization to evaluate potential value of alternative treatments.