背景:輔助療法是指除了當今西醫醫療以外的各種廣泛的療癒資源，其理念是健康提升、疾病預防與整體性照護；隨著健康養生觀念的興起，輔助療法的使用日益增加，因此醫療從業人員需要了解民眾使用輔助療法的相關議題。
目的:本研究的目的是要了解社區成人使用輔助療法的比率、種類及使用原因。
方法:本研究採橫斷式描述型相關性研究設計，母群體是中部縣市滿18歲之成年民眾，以登錄於中華電信公司彰化及南投縣市住宅電話號碼簿的家戶作為可及母群體，採隨機抽樣方式獲得樣本，並以結構性問卷，經由電話訪談來收集資料。資料譯碼後輸入電腦，以SPSS 12.0版進行統計分析，統計方法包括次數、百分比、平均數及卡方檢定，以回答研究問題。
結果:共289位民眾參與本研究，年齡介於18至88歲之間。有86%的受訪者在過去一年內至少使用一種輔助療法，而民俗療法、運動及服用營養補充劑是使用最多的前三名，使用原因主要是為了促進健康。使用的民眾中有一半以上不會主動告知醫護人員在使用輔助療法。輔助療法使用情形與年齡、性別、教育程度、宗教信仰、職業及有無固定接受西醫治療有關（p < .05）。
結論:研究結果可提供醫護專業人員對社區成人使用輔助療法之認識。醫護人員應重視輔助療法使用之普遍性，並將輔助療法之使用納入健康評估中。

Background: Complementaty therapy embraces a broad spectrum of healing resources that lie outside the realm of traditional Western medicine. The philosophy of complementaty therapy is health promotion, disease prevention and holistic care. Rising general health consciousness has gradually increased the use of such therapies. Health professionals
must enhance their understanding of issues related to complemetary therapy use.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the prevalence and types of complementary therapies as well as reason for adopting such therapies among community-dwelling adults in central Taiwan.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to study a population of community-dwelling adults living in Changhua and Nantou Counties. Subjects from these two counties were selected at random from the public telephone directory (White Pages, published by Chunghwa Telecom). A structured questionnaire was used to collect data by phone. Data were then coded and analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Statistical medthods including frequency,percentage, mean and chi-square tests were used to answer research questions.
Results: A sample of 289 subjects between 18-88 years of age participated in the study. Study results revealed that 86% of subjects had used at least one complementary therapy type during the previous one year period. The top three complemetary therapies used included folk therapy, exercise and nutrition supplements. The primary reason for using therapies was health promotion. Over a half of users did not voluntarily inform health care professionals of their complementary therapy use. Usage patterns differed significantly within groupings based on age, gender, education level, religion, occupation and Western medical therapies.
Conclusions: Study results may provide health professionals with information necessary to understand complementary therapy usage trends better. Health professionals should pay much attention to the prevalence of use of complementary therapies and include complementary therapy use in their regular health assessment procedures.