REASON4HEALTH project, NUMBER 7739579

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REASON4HEALTH project, NUMBER 7739579

Authors

Publications

Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media

Lazić, Aleksandra; Petrović, Marija; Branković, Marija; Žeželj, Iris

(University of California Press, 2023)

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lazić, Aleksandra
AU  - Petrović, Marija
AU  - Branković, Marija
AU  - Žeželj, Iris
PY  - 2023
UR  - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/3728
AB  - To describe how Serbian online media cover the topic of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TM/CAM), we conducted a content analysis of 182 articles from six news and six magazine websites, published July–December 2021. Biologically based treatments, predominantly herbal products framed as Serbian or Russian folk medicine, were the most common (70.9%, 205/289 practices). The practices were often presented as general health enhancers (18.4%, 71/386 claims); other common reasons given for the use of TM/CAM were to alleviate respiratory problems, boost the immunity, and detox. The tone was overwhelmingly positive, with most of the positive articles (82.4%, 145/176) neglecting to present information on potential harms of TM/CAM use. Few articles provided a recommendation to speak with a healthcare provider (13.6%, 24/176); in contrast, the recommended dosage was often explained (59.7%, 105/176). TM/CAM practitioners (15.9%, 28/176) and conventional medicine practitioners (12.5%, 22/176) were most commonly cited sources. Articles tended to appeal to TM/CAM’s tradition of use (65.3%, 115/176), naturalness (45.5%, 80/176), and convenience (40.9%, 72/176), used pseudoscientific jargon (59.7%, 105/176), and failed to cite sources for the claims that TM/CAM use is supported by science (22.2%, 39/176). Much of the information provided in Serbian online media seems to be uncritical, with a potential for misleading consumers.
PB  - University of California Press
T2  - Collabra Psychology
T1  - Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media
VL  - 9
DO  - 10.1525/collabra.82189
ER  - 
@article{
author = "Lazić, Aleksandra and Petrović, Marija and Branković, Marija and Žeželj, Iris",
year = "2023",
abstract = "To describe how Serbian online media cover the topic of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TM/CAM), we conducted a content analysis of 182 articles from six news and six magazine websites, published July–December 2021. Biologically based treatments, predominantly herbal products framed as Serbian or Russian folk medicine, were the most common (70.9%, 205/289 practices). The practices were often presented as general health enhancers (18.4%, 71/386 claims); other common reasons given for the use of TM/CAM were to alleviate respiratory problems, boost the immunity, and detox. The tone was overwhelmingly positive, with most of the positive articles (82.4%, 145/176) neglecting to present information on potential harms of TM/CAM use. Few articles provided a recommendation to speak with a healthcare provider (13.6%, 24/176); in contrast, the recommended dosage was often explained (59.7%, 105/176). TM/CAM practitioners (15.9%, 28/176) and conventional medicine practitioners (12.5%, 22/176) were most commonly cited sources. Articles tended to appeal to TM/CAM’s tradition of use (65.3%, 115/176), naturalness (45.5%, 80/176), and convenience (40.9%, 72/176), used pseudoscientific jargon (59.7%, 105/176), and failed to cite sources for the claims that TM/CAM use is supported by science (22.2%, 39/176). Much of the information provided in Serbian online media seems to be uncritical, with a potential for misleading consumers.",
publisher = "University of California Press",
journal = "Collabra Psychology",
title = "Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media",
volume = "9",
doi = "10.1525/collabra.82189"
}
Lazić, A., Petrović, M., Branković, M.,& Žeželj, I.. (2023). Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media. in Collabra Psychology
University of California Press., 9.
https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.82189
Lazić A, Petrović M, Branković M, Žeželj I. Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media. in Collabra Psychology. 2023;9.
doi:10.1525/collabra.82189 .
Lazić, Aleksandra, Petrović, Marija, Branković, Marija, Žeželj, Iris, "Quick Natural Cure-Alls: Portrayal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Serbian Online Media" in Collabra Psychology, 9 (2023),
https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.82189 . .
7
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Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study

Lazarević, Ljiljana; Knežević, Goran; Purić, Danka; Teovanović, Predrag; Petrović, Marija; Ninković, Milica; Živanović, Marko; Stanković, Sanda; Branković, Marija; Lukić, Petar; Opačić, Goran; Žeželj, Iris

(Nature Portfolio, 2023)

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lazarević, Ljiljana
AU  - Knežević, Goran
AU  - Purić, Danka
AU  - Teovanović, Predrag
AU  - Petrović, Marija
AU  - Ninković, Milica
AU  - Živanović, Marko
AU  - Stanković, Sanda
AU  - Branković, Marija
AU  - Lukić, Petar
AU  - Opačić, Goran
AU  - Žeželj, Iris
PY  - 2023
UR  - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/3731
AB  - People resort to various questionable health practices to preserve or regain health - they intentionally do not adhere to medical recommendations (e.g. self-medicate or modify the prescribed therapies; iNAR), or use traditional/complementary/alternative (TCAM) medicine. As retrospective reports overestimate adherence and sufer from recall and desirability bias, we tracked the variations in daily questionable health behaviors and compared them to their retrospectively reported lifetime use. We also preregistered and explored their relations to a wide set of psychological predictors - distal (personality traits and basic thinking dispositions) and proximal (diferent unfounded beliefs and biases grouped under the term irrational mindset). A community sample (N = 224) tracked daily engagement in iNAR and TCAM use for 14 days, resulting in 3136 data points. We observed a high rate of questionable health practices over the 14 days; daily engagement rates roughly corresponded to lifetime ones. Both iNAR and TCAM were weakly, but robustly positively related. Independent of the assessment method, an irrational mindset was the most important predictor of TCAM use. For iNAR, however, psychological predictors emerged as relevant only when assessed retrospectively. Our study ofers insight into questionable health behaviors from both a within and between-person perspective and highlights the importance of their psychological roots.
PB  - Nature Portfolio
T2  - Scientific Reports
T1  - Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study
VL  - 13
DO  - 10.1038/s41598-023-41243-w
ER  - 
@article{
author = "Lazarević, Ljiljana and Knežević, Goran and Purić, Danka and Teovanović, Predrag and Petrović, Marija and Ninković, Milica and Živanović, Marko and Stanković, Sanda and Branković, Marija and Lukić, Petar and Opačić, Goran and Žeželj, Iris",
year = "2023",
abstract = "People resort to various questionable health practices to preserve or regain health - they intentionally do not adhere to medical recommendations (e.g. self-medicate or modify the prescribed therapies; iNAR), or use traditional/complementary/alternative (TCAM) medicine. As retrospective reports overestimate adherence and sufer from recall and desirability bias, we tracked the variations in daily questionable health behaviors and compared them to their retrospectively reported lifetime use. We also preregistered and explored their relations to a wide set of psychological predictors - distal (personality traits and basic thinking dispositions) and proximal (diferent unfounded beliefs and biases grouped under the term irrational mindset). A community sample (N = 224) tracked daily engagement in iNAR and TCAM use for 14 days, resulting in 3136 data points. We observed a high rate of questionable health practices over the 14 days; daily engagement rates roughly corresponded to lifetime ones. Both iNAR and TCAM were weakly, but robustly positively related. Independent of the assessment method, an irrational mindset was the most important predictor of TCAM use. For iNAR, however, psychological predictors emerged as relevant only when assessed retrospectively. Our study ofers insight into questionable health behaviors from both a within and between-person perspective and highlights the importance of their psychological roots.",
publisher = "Nature Portfolio",
journal = "Scientific Reports",
title = "Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study",
volume = "13",
doi = "10.1038/s41598-023-41243-w"
}
Lazarević, L., Knežević, G., Purić, D., Teovanović, P., Petrović, M., Ninković, M., Živanović, M., Stanković, S., Branković, M., Lukić, P., Opačić, G.,& Žeželj, I.. (2023). Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study. in Scientific Reports
Nature Portfolio., 13.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41243-w
Lazarević L, Knežević G, Purić D, Teovanović P, Petrović M, Ninković M, Živanović M, Stanković S, Branković M, Lukić P, Opačić G, Žeželj I. Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study. in Scientific Reports. 2023;13.
doi:10.1038/s41598-023-41243-w .
Lazarević, Ljiljana, Knežević, Goran, Purić, Danka, Teovanović, Predrag, Petrović, Marija, Ninković, Milica, Živanović, Marko, Stanković, Sanda, Branković, Marija, Lukić, Petar, Opačić, Goran, Žeželj, Iris, "Tracking variations in daily questionable health behaviors and their psychological roots: a preregistered experience sampling study" in Scientific Reports, 13 (2023),
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41243-w . .
9

Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia

Purić, Danka; Petrović, Marija; Živanović, Marko; Lukić, Petar; Zupan, Zorana; Branković, Marija; Ninković, Milica; Lazarević, Ljiljana; Stanković, Sanda; Žeželj, Iris

(BMJ Journals, 2023)

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Purić, Danka
AU  - Petrović, Marija
AU  - Živanović, Marko
AU  - Lukić, Petar
AU  - Zupan, Zorana
AU  - Branković, Marija
AU  - Ninković, Milica
AU  - Lazarević, Ljiljana
AU  - Stanković, Sanda
AU  - Žeželj, Iris
PY  - 2023
UR  - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/3727
AB  - Objectives We aimed to (1) develop a novel instrument, suitable for the general population, capturing intentional non-adherence (iNAR), consisting of non-adherence to prescribed therapy, self-medication and avoidance of seeking medical treatment; (2) differentiate it from other forms of non-adherence, for example, smoking; and (3) relate iNAR to patient-related factors, such as sociodemographics, health status and endorsement of irrational beliefs (conspiratorial thinking and superstitions) and to healthcare-related beliefs and experiences ((mis)trust and negative experiences with the healthcare system, normalisation of patient passivity).

Design То generate iNAR items, we employed a focus group with medical doctors, supplemented it with a literature search and invited a public health expert to refine it further. We examined the internal structure and predictors of iNAR in an observational study.

Setting Data were collected online using snowball sampling and social networks.

Participants After excluding those who failed one or more out of three attention checks, the final sample size was n=583 adult Serbian citizens, 74.4% female, mean age 39.01 years (SD=12.10).

Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary, planned outcome is the iNAR Questionnaire, while smoking was used for comparison purposes.

Results Factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, and the final 12-item iNAR Questionnaire had satisfactory internal reliability (alpha=0.72). Health condition and healthcare-related variables accounted for 14% of the variance of iNAR behaviours, whereas sociodemographics and irrational beliefs did not additionally contribute.

Conclusions We constructed a brief yet comprehensive measure of iNAR behaviours and related them to health and sociodemographic variables and irrational beliefs. The findings suggest that public health interventions should attempt to improve patients' experiences with the system and build trust with their healthcare practitioners rather than aim at specific demographic groups or at correcting patients’ unfounded beliefs.
PB  - BMJ Journals
T2  - BMJ Open
T1  - Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia
VL  - 13
DO  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069978
ER  - 
@article{
author = "Purić, Danka and Petrović, Marija and Živanović, Marko and Lukić, Petar and Zupan, Zorana and Branković, Marija and Ninković, Milica and Lazarević, Ljiljana and Stanković, Sanda and Žeželj, Iris",
year = "2023",
abstract = "Objectives We aimed to (1) develop a novel instrument, suitable for the general population, capturing intentional non-adherence (iNAR), consisting of non-adherence to prescribed therapy, self-medication and avoidance of seeking medical treatment; (2) differentiate it from other forms of non-adherence, for example, smoking; and (3) relate iNAR to patient-related factors, such as sociodemographics, health status and endorsement of irrational beliefs (conspiratorial thinking and superstitions) and to healthcare-related beliefs and experiences ((mis)trust and negative experiences with the healthcare system, normalisation of patient passivity).

Design То generate iNAR items, we employed a focus group with medical doctors, supplemented it with a literature search and invited a public health expert to refine it further. We examined the internal structure and predictors of iNAR in an observational study.

Setting Data were collected online using snowball sampling and social networks.

Participants After excluding those who failed one or more out of three attention checks, the final sample size was n=583 adult Serbian citizens, 74.4% female, mean age 39.01 years (SD=12.10).

Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary, planned outcome is the iNAR Questionnaire, while smoking was used for comparison purposes.

Results Factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, and the final 12-item iNAR Questionnaire had satisfactory internal reliability (alpha=0.72). Health condition and healthcare-related variables accounted for 14% of the variance of iNAR behaviours, whereas sociodemographics and irrational beliefs did not additionally contribute.

Conclusions We constructed a brief yet comprehensive measure of iNAR behaviours and related them to health and sociodemographic variables and irrational beliefs. The findings suggest that public health interventions should attempt to improve patients' experiences with the system and build trust with their healthcare practitioners rather than aim at specific demographic groups or at correcting patients’ unfounded beliefs.",
publisher = "BMJ Journals",
journal = "BMJ Open",
title = "Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia",
volume = "13",
doi = "10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069978"
}
Purić, D., Petrović, M., Živanović, M., Lukić, P., Zupan, Z., Branković, M., Ninković, M., Lazarević, L., Stanković, S.,& Žeželj, I.. (2023). Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia. in BMJ Open
BMJ Journals., 13.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069978
Purić D, Petrović M, Živanović M, Lukić P, Zupan Z, Branković M, Ninković M, Lazarević L, Stanković S, Žeželj I. Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia. in BMJ Open. 2023;13.
doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069978 .
Purić, Danka, Petrović, Marija, Živanović, Marko, Lukić, Petar, Zupan, Zorana, Branković, Marija, Ninković, Milica, Lazarević, Ljiljana, Stanković, Sanda, Žeželj, Iris, "Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia" in BMJ Open, 13 (2023),
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069978 . .
7
1

Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments

Budžak, Anastasija; Branković, Marija

(Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2022)

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Budžak, Anastasija
AU  - Branković, Marija
PY  - 2022
UR  - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/2997
AB  - Research suggests a trend toward an increased interest in CAM, complementary and alternative therapies for treating mental health problems, which is paralleled by a relatively favorable attitude of mental health professionals. This study explored psychological predictors of attitude toward CAM therapies: frustration tolerance (measured by the 28-item Frustration Discomfort Scale), self-esteem (measured by the 16-item Revised Version of the Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale), cognitive styles (measured by REI Scale-short version) and irrational health beliefs (measured by CAM Health Belief Questionnaire – CHBQ). Participants (N = 294) reacted to vignettes describing Bach flower remedies and neuro-linguistic programming to indi-cate their attitude toward CAM. CAM health beliefs (e.g., belief that health is a balance of life forces) and self-esteem positively predicted attitude toward CAM, while the rational style of thinking was a negative predictor. As suggested by mediation analysis, the intuitive thinking style affected the attitude toward CAM via an increase in CAM beliefs. We discuss the implications of our findings for encouraging rational decision-making when seeking help with mental health problems.
PB  - Slovak Academy of Sciences
T2  - Studia Psychologica
T1  - Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments
VL  - 64
DO  - 10.31577/sp.2022.01.843
ER  - 
@article{
author = "Budžak, Anastasija and Branković, Marija",
year = "2022",
abstract = "Research suggests a trend toward an increased interest in CAM, complementary and alternative therapies for treating mental health problems, which is paralleled by a relatively favorable attitude of mental health professionals. This study explored psychological predictors of attitude toward CAM therapies: frustration tolerance (measured by the 28-item Frustration Discomfort Scale), self-esteem (measured by the 16-item Revised Version of the Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale), cognitive styles (measured by REI Scale-short version) and irrational health beliefs (measured by CAM Health Belief Questionnaire – CHBQ). Participants (N = 294) reacted to vignettes describing Bach flower remedies and neuro-linguistic programming to indi-cate their attitude toward CAM. CAM health beliefs (e.g., belief that health is a balance of life forces) and self-esteem positively predicted attitude toward CAM, while the rational style of thinking was a negative predictor. As suggested by mediation analysis, the intuitive thinking style affected the attitude toward CAM via an increase in CAM beliefs. We discuss the implications of our findings for encouraging rational decision-making when seeking help with mental health problems.",
publisher = "Slovak Academy of Sciences",
journal = "Studia Psychologica",
title = "Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments",
volume = "64",
doi = "10.31577/sp.2022.01.843"
}
Budžak, A.,& Branković, M.. (2022). Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments. in Studia Psychologica
Slovak Academy of Sciences., 64.
https://doi.org/10.31577/sp.2022.01.843
Budžak A, Branković M. Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments. in Studia Psychologica. 2022;64.
doi:10.31577/sp.2022.01.843 .
Budžak, Anastasija, Branković, Marija, "Alternative Ways to Mental Health: Exploring Psychological Determinants of Preference for CAM Treatments" in Studia Psychologica, 64 (2022),
https://doi.org/10.31577/sp.2022.01.843 . .
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2