Page 32 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

As for GMOs, students perceived their still remained in the level of uncertainty.
level of knowledge had increased after the
ScienceCamps. Interestingly, students from The Spanish case was also particular since
Portugal, Germany and Spain decreased their after the SC, participants maintained their
positive perception in CAM and increased their belief that CAM are a risk for public health,
level of trust whereas in Slovakia there was an reinforced their trust in conventional medicine
increase in positive perception of CAM and a and considered medical treatments not based
decrease in the level of trust. However, even on scientific evidence should be discouraged
though German students also decreased their but still perceived that CAM have more
level of belief, Spanish and Slovak students advantages than disadvantages, probably
maintained it, while Portuguese students because of the wide discussion about the
increased their level of belief in CAM. This placebo effect during the SC.
can be explained by the level of scepticism
and uncertainty Portuguese students showed Finally, we should highlight that in Slovakia,
towards the topics that are less discussed the SC seemed to have reinforced the positive
in the social sphere, since even though their views towards CAM.
perception and trust was slightly changed, it

Figure 7. Visual representation of the variation in the levels of knowledge,
perception, beliefs and trust for CAM.
* In these cases, the increase means an increase in a positive perception and belief in CAM, therefore,
a decrease in positive perception and belief in science.

The differences in variations can be due to multiple reasons, mainly cultural and social differences,
composition of the sample, the talk of the expert and the issues discussed afterwards.

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