Abstract
BackgroundRecent use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing in children worldwide, so there is a need to evaluate CAM’s use among pediatrics in Palestine. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CAM use among a sample of Palestinian children, investigate the factors that affect the use of CAMs, identify the types of CAM used, and assess the purposes of using them.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study of parents who had children aged 6 years and below was carried out. A convenient sample of about 420 participants was collected; from Primary care to Motherhood and Childhood Centers in Nablus city in Palestine. Parents who agreed to participate were asked to answer a survey that consists mainly of closed-ended questions. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 16.0.ResultsThe use of CAM was detected in all interviewers 420 (100%). The most common treatment used was herbal therapy (n = 400, 95.2%), and anise was the most common herbal therapy used (n = 334; 79.5%). A total of 371 (88.3%) of the respondents used CAM for digestive system problems. The main reason for using CAM was making the child more comfortable (n = 365; 86.9%). Parents who are 30 years or older were significantly using more CAM than younger parents (P = 0.001). In addition, regarding the number of children in the family, parents who have five children or more used more CAM subtypes significantly more than parents with less than this number (P = 0.025). Moreover, parents living in a refugee camp used more CAM than parents who lived in urban or rural areas (P = 0.031).ConclusionsParents of children use CAM frequently. All parents used CAM, and physicians were not mainly among the sources of CAM information, and almost all parents were unaware of the side effects of CAM. Future research is necessary to direct pediatricians in formulating recommendations for children on CAM modalities, including possible risks and benefits and interactions with conventional medications.
Highlights
Recent use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing in children worldwide, so there is a need to evaluate CAM’s use among pediatrics in Palestine
All parents reported the use of CAM in their children, and this result is because the current study does not focus on certain diseases, and most CAM subtypes were included in addition to the effect of culture
Regarding the diseases treated with CAM, digestive system problems were the most common problems, and making the child more comfortable is the most common reason for CAM use
Summary
Recent use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing in children worldwide, so there is a need to evaluate CAM’s use among pediatrics in Palestine. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a formal method of health care in many areas of the ancient world and is expected to be integrated widely into the modern medical system and become part of it [1, 2]. Many types of CAM are quite diverse in different areas of the world, and they are influenced by culture, history, use, level of education, and individual interests. Countries such as China, South Korea, and Vietnam have accepted the use of complementary medicine in their health systems [5]. The availability, acceptability, cost-effectiveness, and expectation of low side effects of CAM may increase the challenge of health care [7, 8]
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