Universal Medicine Associated with Improved Physical and Mental Health in Women: Results from a Regression Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: There are a small number of communities with unusually good health and longevity but their impact on our understanding of health has been limited. Women associated with Universal Medicine (UM), a complementary-to-medicine Australian and UK-based healthcare organisation, are placed above average on many indicators of physical and mental health. Our objective was to expand on these findings by investigating associations between demographic variables and health indicators, and assessing how the SF-36 questionnaire surveys women of above-average health.

Methods: The study described in this paper is part of a quantitative, cross-sectional survey of 449 women who are UM participants living in 15 countries. The women answered 43 questions from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH), allowing a comparison between the two populations. Multivariable regression discerned associations between demographic variables and health scales. SF-36 summary scores resulting from orthogonal and oblique coefficients were also investigated.

Results: Length of association with UM was a predictor of lower levels of stress, depression, emotional distress, and higher (better) levels of numerous physical and mental health indicators. No associations were found for the perceived control scale, SF-36 general health and social functioning subscales. The SF-36 showed measurement weaknesses in assessing respondents with above-average levels of both physical and mental health due to ceiling effects; however, the instrument was still useful in discerning associations between SF-36 scores and UM respondents' demographic variables. UM respondents with a previous serious illness or precursor to a chronic illness did not differ substantially in their physical or mental health from the other respondents. UM respondents have a much lower mean BMI of 21 than the ALSWH respondents' BMI of 26.

Conclusions The UM respondents report notably lower BMI and higher levels of physical and mental health than does the general population of women. Time of association with Universal Medicine is connected with better scores on most health scales and matching scores on all other health scales. Investigating whether the relationship between UM and better health is causal, and whether any causality can be transferred to the general population seem to be worthwhile research goals.

Funding Statement: There is no external funding. CS used personal funds to gain access to the survey software. There were no other expenses.

Declaration of Interests: The authors (EJM, CS and VM) have varying degrees of association with Universal Medicine (www.universalmedicine.com.au) and are current members of the Esoteric Practitioners’ Association (EPA - www.epa-international.com), the accrediting body for practitioners of Universal Medicine Therapies. Universal Medicine (UM) has a focus on complementary-to-medicine practices, that aim to support and augment medical treatments. In addition, UM presents a religious way of living known as The Way of The Livingness. All are students of The Way of The Livingness. Eunice Minford is a Consultant General Surgeon, and has trained as an Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Counsellor. She also attended the National University of Ireland and obtained a degree of "Master of Applied Christian Spirituality" studying Sacred Esoteric Healing in her thesis. Eunice is also editor of the website “Medicine and Serge Benhayon” and a contributor to that website and to the "Unimed Living" website. She has her own blog "The Soulful Doctor" where she discusses, et al, Universal Medicine. She is also on the EPA professional committee as well as a medical advisor to, and the International Patron of, the EPA. She is a trained esoteric healing practitioner and provides occasional private sessions. Christoph Schnelle is a financial adviser and has some Universal Medicine associated persons among his client base. Christoph is currently working towards his PhD with The University of Queensland, the subject of which is two randomised controlled trials of Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy (a Universal Medicine modality) on chronic low back pain and has accumulated case studies as part of this project. He has trained in Universal Medicine Therapies including Sacred Esoteric Healing, Chakra-puncture and Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy, and does not currently practice any of these on professional clients or patients. Christoph Schnelle’s wife, Nicola Lessing, is involved in voluntary activities around producing content for "Unimed Living" and other websites. Nicola is company secretary of Unimed Living and does this in an honorary capacity. She is not a director or shareholder of Unimed Living. She is not employed by Universal Medicine or Unimed Living and does not receive any financial incentives from Universal Medicine or Unimed Living. Vanessa McHardy is involved in voluntary activities around producing content for "Unimed Living”, and was presenting at a conference on Psychological Well Being in 2013 on the Gold Coast of Australia, has published blogs on UM student blog sites and is a member of the EPA. EJM, CS and VM have experienced substantial health benefits since they started visiting Universal Medicine events. They all have published blogs on Universal Medicine associated websites and all have commented on other blogs published on those websites. All authors have no financial ties and have received no money from Universal Medicine or its related entities including no reimbursements of expenses. EJM, CS and VM attend more than 10 Universal Medicine events a year and regularly receive treatments from Universal Medicine accredited practitioners.

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval CS23062015 was granted by the School of Public Health Research Ethics Committee on 23rd June, 2015. The first item on the survey explained the purpose of the survey, and asked participants to either grant their consent or decline to do so.