Abstract
BackgroundIntegrative Medicine (IM) is an emerging field in paediatrics, especially in the USA. The purpose of the present study was to assess the attitudes and beliefs of Youth Health Care (YHC) physicians in the Netherlands toward IM in paediatrics.MethodsIn October 2010, a link to an anonymous, self-reporting, 30-item web-based questionnaire was mailed to all members of the Dutch Organisation of YHC physicians. The questionnaire included questions on familiarity with IM, attitudes towards Integrative Paediatrics (IP), use and knowledge of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), demographic and practice characteristics.ResultsA total of 276 YHC physicians (response rate of 27%) responded to the survey. Of the respondents, 52% was familiar with IM and 56% had used some kind of CAM therapy during the past 2 years, of which self-medicated herbal and/or homeopathic remedies (61%) and supplements (50%) were most frequently mentioned. Most of the YHC physicians (62%) seldom asked parents of clients about CAM use. One third of the YHC physicians recommended CAM to their clients. In general, about 50% or more of the respondents had little knowledge of CAM therapies. Predictors for a positive attitude towards IP were familiarity with IM, own CAM use, asking their clients about CAM use and practising one or more forms of CAM therapy. Logistic regression analysis showed that the following factors were associated with a higher recommendation to CAM therapies: own CAM use (odds ratio (OR) = 3.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.1-6.9, p = 0.001) and practising CAM (OR 4.4; 95% CI = 1.6-11.7, p = 0.003).ConclusionsIn general Dutch YHC physicians have a relative positive attitude towards IP; more than half of the respondents used one or more forms of CAM and one third recommended CAM therapies. However, the majority of YHC physicians did not ask their clients about CAM use and seemed to have a lack of knowledge regarding CAM.
Highlights
Integrative Medicine (IM) is an emerging field in paediatrics, especially in the USA
Characteristics of Youth Health Care (YHC) physicians A total of 1013 AJN members were approached by email
The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) by YHC physicians themselves was relatively high (56% of respondents), much higher than the CAM use recently reported for paediatricians (39%) [10]
Summary
Integrative Medicine (IM) is an emerging field in paediatrics, especially in the USA. The purpose of the present study was to assess the attitudes and beliefs of Youth Health Care (YHC) physicians in the Netherlands toward IM in paediatrics. Integrative Medicine (IM) is an emerging field in health care, especially in the USA. IM is perceived as a health care approach that is client centred and healing oriented. It embraces conventional therapies as well as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) [1]. In IM, particular attention is given to: 1.
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