South Texas Mexican American Use of Traditional Folk and Mainstream Alternative Therapies

A telephone survey was conducted with a large sample of Mexican Americans from border ( n = 1,001) and nonborder ( n = 1,030) regions in Texas. Patterns of traditional folk and mainstream complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use were analyzed with two binary logistic regressions, using gender, self-rated health, confidence in medical doctors, income, education, and acculturation as predictors. Approximately 45% of respondents were CAM users within the last 12 months. Users of both types of CAM were likely to be women and to have a high education level. Compared to nonusers, traditional folk CAM users were found to have lower self-rated health, less confidence in medical doctors, and lower acculturation. Mainstream CAM users had higher income and self-rated health than nonusers.