scholarly journals Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Residents of Wayu Town, Western Ethiopia

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 929-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negash Belachew ◽  
Tarekegne Tadesse ◽  
Addisu Alemayehu Gube

Complementary and alternative medicine covers a wide variety of therapies and practices, which vary from country to country and region to region. The study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary and alternative medicine among the residents of Wayu town, Western Ethiopia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 302 residents. A systematic sampling was used to select households. Data were entered in SPSS (version 20; IBM Corp) and descriptive statistics was carried out. Of 302 participants, 51.65% have a good knowledge, 78.6% were aware of complementary and alternative medicine, and 74.22% used it in the past 2 years. A total of 23.83% believe that complementary and alternative medicine is more effective than modern medicine and 28.8% preferred complementary and alternative medicine to modern medicine. This study revealed that in Wayu town, there is relatively high public interest in complementary and alternative medicine practices and a significant number has a good knowledge but generally the attitude toward complementary and alternative medicine is relatively low.

Author(s):  
Ohemu T. L. ◽  
Sariem C. N. ◽  
Dafam D. G. ◽  
Ohemu B. O. ◽  
Okwori V A D. G. ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Traditional medicine (TM) status in population with access to modern medicine is not well clear in the whole country, even though the acceptance of TM is a well-established fact. TM has gained popularity in all regions of the developing world. This study is aimed at accessing the general knowledge, attitude, practice, the extent of use, benefits and safety of TM among people of Jos North L.G.A. A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out on 300 residents of Jos North L.G.A. A systematic random sampling was used to select households at intervals of six. Data was collected through the use of structured open and closed ended questionnaires and interview and the data were analysed using SPSS 20. 274 out of 300 questionnaires were valid. Among the respondents, 56.9% are between 19-28 years. 100% of the participants have good knowledge of TM, 62.8% had no adverse effect from the use of TM, while 70.1% do not agree that TM is safer than modern medicine. 70.4% of the participants plan to use TM in the future. 29.9% of the respondent prefer TM, 31.8% prefer modern medicine while 38.3% prefer both. The population in Jos North has good knowledge with high acceptability and use of TM. The main reasons for the high acceptability are due to lesser cost, availability, effectiveness and efficacy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 380-388
Author(s):  
Maryam Zeighami ◽  
Somayeh Soltani-Nejad

Background Development of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) usage makes it necessary for nurses to be up to date about these treatments. However, much information is needed about the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses in this field. Aims The present study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of CAM in nurses working in Iranian hospitals. Methods It was a descriptive study. A researcher-made questionnaire was completed by nurses working in four hospitals. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results Two hundred and thirty-three nurses completed the questionnaire (response rate = 83.8%). Most nurses had little knowledge of CAM. The most familiar methods were Nutrition, Massage Therapy and Herbal Medicine. Of the nurses, 71.1% believed that CAM would be effective in disease treatment, showing their positive attitude toward CAM; 1.56% of nurses used CAM, and most nurses did not use CAM in clinical settings. Conclusions Although nurses have a positive attitude toward CAM, their knowledge level is low. Regarding nurses’ role in patients’ treatment and the importance of their capability to treat, the need to increase nurses’ knowledge of CAM is felt, and its education should be included in the nursing curriculum.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 153473542098391
Author(s):  
Chieh-Ying Chin ◽  
Yung-Hsiang Chen ◽  
Shin-Chung Wu ◽  
Chien-Ting Liu ◽  
Yun-Fang Lee ◽  
...  

Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming more common in medical practice, but little is known about the concurrent use of CAM and conventional treatment. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the types of CAM used and their prevalence in a regional patient cohort with breast cancer (BC). Methods BC patients were interviewed with a structured questionnaire survey on the use of CAM in southern Taiwan at an Integrative Breast Cancer Center (IBCC). The National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) classification was used to group responses. Over a period of 8 months, all patients receiving treatment for cancer at the IBCC were approached. Results A total of 106 BC patients completed the survey (response rate: 79.7%). The prevalence of CAM use was 82.4%. Patients who were employed, were receiving radiotherapy and hormone therapy, and had cancer for a longer duration were more likely to use CAM ( P < .05). Multivariate analysis identified employment as an independent predictor of CAM use (OR = 6.92; 95% CI = 1.33-36.15). Dietary supplementation (n = 69, 82.1%) was the type of CAM most frequently used, followed by exercise (n = 48, 57.1%) and traditional Chinese medicine (n = 29, 34.5%). The main reason for using CAM was to ameliorate the side effects of conventional therapies. Almost half (46.4%) of these CAM users did not disclose that they were using it in medical consultations with their physicians. Most chose to use CAM due to recommendations from family and friends. Conclusion A large portion of BC patients at the IBCC undergoing anti-cancer treatment courses used CAM, but less than half discussed it with their physicians. Given the high prevalence of CAM, it would be justifiable to direct further resources toward this service so that cancer patients can benefit from a holistic approach to their treatment.


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