Are quantum medicine proponents also more likely to practice yoga: Robustness of an empirical taxonomy of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine practices

Background: Traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) encompasses a wide range of healthcare practices that are typically not part of “conventional” medicine and that are widely used in general populations. The aim of the study was to test for the most appropriate latent structure of a comprehensive instrument measuring TCAM use and to test its robustness in community samples. Methods: Sample for Study 1 consisted of n = 583 respondents from Serbia, and for Study 2 data were collected on n = 1152 participants in three countries (Serbia, Bosnia, and UK). In both studies, TCAM use was assessed via the TCAM-22 instrument.Results: In Study 1, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) we identified a hierarchical structure with a second-order factor subsuming four first-order factors (Alternative medical systems, New Age medicine, Natural product-based medicine, and Rituals/customs). We replicated the hierarchical four-factor structure in Study 2 using a multi-group CFA approach (MGCFA), where we found metric invariance of the structure across three countries. Conclusions: The obtained measurement invariance suggests that TCAM practices convey similar psychological meaning across countries/cultures and have similar patterns of use. Thus, the proposed instrument can serve as a valid tool to assess TCAM use in cross-cultural research.