Abstract
Background Around 75% of the world's population relies on the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) for their healthcare. Thus, we aimed at assessing the attitude and perception of health professional students about CAM and correlate the results with their demographical data. Methods An observational cross-sectional study was conducted at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by enrolling 350 students. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. Results Results of our data suggested that majority of students were aware of the CAM modalities and considered prayers/spirituality (83.6%), massage (72.5%), nutritional supplements (74.1%), cupping (68.5%), herbal medicine (66.2), and yoga (61.6%) as most effective and least harmful CAM modalities. The students acquired more information about CAM from media (55%), books (56%), friends/relatives (59.7%), and other health professionals (58.4%), however, very little information from formal CAM courses or training (36.7%), which shows the lack of courses and trained health professional in the field of CAM. Despite utilizing nonreliable sources of CAM information, the majority of students had positive attitudes and perceptions about CAM usage. Majority of the students (75.8%) believe in the use of CAM for the mental and spiritual aspect of health and think that CAM providers give good information on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The data also showed a significant (P < 0.05) association between awareness about CAM and gender. A significantly higher percentage of female students were using yoga and aromatherapy, while cupping was mostly used by male students. Similarly, a significant association was found among the different colleges and level of students in most of the CAM modalities. However, no association was found between the awareness and use of CAM with the educational level of parents or relatives in health sector except for acupuncture and cupping, where student's awareness about acupuncture and cupping was found to have a significant positive association with mother educational level. On the other hand, a significant inverse association was found between acupuncture, yoga, cupping, and aromatherapy with family income. Conclusion In conclusion, despite the lack of proper courses and professionally trained healthcare providers in the field of CAM, students demonstrated positive attitudes and beliefs toward the safety and effectiveness of CAM.
Highlights
Traditional medicine (TM) has a long history, and World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as “the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness.” e term “complementary medicine” or “alternative medicine” refers to a broad set of healthcare practices that are not part of that country’s own tradition or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant healthcare system.ey are used interchangeably with traditional medicine in some countries
complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) refers to local knowledge, belief systems, and therapeutic practices that are used in different countries for the treatment or prevention of different diseases, especially chronic diseases and products that are not generally considered part of conventional (Western or allopathic) medicine [1]. e evolution of different systems of traditional medicine emerged as a result of the traditional knowledge of using herbs for various disorders
Conventional (Western) medicine focuses mainly on the physical health and/or prevention/treatment of diseases but focuses little on the mental, social, and spiritual aspects of health. erefore, National Institute of Health (NIH) has established National Center for the Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) in order to provide funds and conduct research to fill the gap between research and health information regarding CAM therapies, especially for Integrative Health Care which combines both conventional and complementary approaches, for which there is evidence of effectiveness, in a coordinated way. is approach to health and wellness is growing across the US
Summary
Traditional medicine (TM) has a long history, and World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as “the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness.” e term “complementary medicine” or “alternative medicine” refers to a broad set of healthcare practices that are not part of that country’s own tradition or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant healthcare system.ey are used interchangeably with traditional medicine in some countries. Us, we aimed at assessing the attitude and perception of health professional students about CAM and correlate the results with their demographical data. Results of our data suggested that majority of students were aware of the CAM modalities and considered prayers/spirituality (83.6%), massage (72.5%), nutritional supplements (74.1%), cupping (68.5%), herbal medicine (66.2), and yoga (61.6%) as most effective and least harmful CAM modalities. Majority of the students (75.8%) believe in the use of CAM for the mental and spiritual aspect of health and think that CAM providers give good information on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Despite the lack of proper courses and professionally trained healthcare providers in the field of CAM, students demonstrated positive attitudes and beliefs toward the safety and effectiveness of CAM
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