Use and acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine among medical students: a cross sectional study from Palestine

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Teaching Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in medical schools is becoming prevalent worldwide. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate medical students’ knowledge and attitude toward CAM. Therefore, this study was designed to assess CAM knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among Palestinian medical students.

Methods

This study was developed in a cross-sectional design. It targeted medical students at An-Najah National University, between January and April of 2018. We gathered the data from students using a questionnaire printed as a hard copy. Medical students of both sexes in their 4th, 5th, or 6th year of studies were included in the survey. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: demographic characteristics and detailed practices of the participants, their attitude and held beliefs towards CAM, and their knowledge on CAM. Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test were used to test if there were differences between knowledge about CAM and the characteristics of the participants.

Results

Of the 300 medical students who were offered the questionnaire, 251 students (43.8% male and 56.2% female) were included in the final analysis. Out of a maximum of 8 points, the mean knowledge score of the participants was 2.0 ± 1.6. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistically significant difference in overall knowledge score among students of different year groups, with students at lower levels obtaining higher scores ( P < 0.001). Additionally, the highest knowledge scores were found in students with low income, and students who came from the Palestinian refugee camps ( P < 0.001). Students frequently recommended CAM modalities, with herbal medicine being the most recognized and used CAM modality and Ayurvedic medicine being the least recognized and recommended one. Social media was the most popular source of information about CAM, cited by 72.9% of the participants. Participants generally had a good attitude towards CAM but held varying beliefs about it.

Conclusions

In the current study, a knowledge gap regarding CAM was found among medical students in our sample, despite their good attitude towards the subject. Also, there was a general acceptance to include materials on CAM within the curriculum of medical students.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-019-2492-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 59

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Use and acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine among the general population and medical personnel: a systematic review.

Michael Frass, Robert Strassl, Helmut Friehs … (2012)

The interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased during the past decade and the attitude of the general public is mainly positive, but the debate about the clinical effectiveness of these therapies remains controversial among many medical professionals. We conducted a systematic search of the existing literature utilizing different databases, including PubMed/Medline, PSYNDEX, and PsycLit, to research the use and acceptance of CAM among the general population and medical personnel. A special focus on CAM-referring literature was set by limiting the PubMed search to "Complementary Medicine" and adding two other search engines: CAMbase (www.cambase.de) and CAMRESEARCH (www.camresearch.net). These engines were used to reveal publications that at the time of the review were not indexed in PubMed. A total of 16 papers met the scope criteria. Prevalence rates of CAM in each of the included studies were between 5% and 74.8%. We found a higher utilization of homeopathy and acupuncture in German-speaking countries. Excluding any form of spiritual prayer, the data demonstrate that chiropractic manipulation, herbal medicine, massage, and homeopathy were the therapies most commonly used by the general population. We identified sex, age, and education as predictors of CAM utilization: More users were women, middle aged, and more educated. The ailments most often associated with CAM utilization included back pain or pathology, depression, insomnia, severe headache or migraine, and stomach or intestinal illnesses. Medical students were the most critical toward CAM. Compared to students of other professions (ie, nursing students: 44.7%, pharmacy students: 18.2%), medical students reported the least consultation with a CAM practitioner (10%). The present data demonstrate an increase of CAM usage from 1990 through 2006 in all countries investigated. We found geographical differences, as well as differences between the general population and medical personnel.

0 comments Cited 166 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Ethnobotanical survey in the Palestinian area: a classification of the healing potential of medicinal plants.

Mohammed Ali-Shtayeh, Zohara Yaniv, Jamal Mahajna (2000)

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the West Bank to evaluate the relative efficacy of the plants used to treat skin diseases and prostate cancer. A total number of 102 informants, 30 years and older and either native born or had been living in the West Bank for more than 30 years, were interviewed using a previously prepared questionnaire. Of about 165 plant species mentioned by the informants, 63 (38.1%) were mentioned by three or more informants. On the basis of their primary uses, 21 of these plants were reported to relieve skin disorders, 17 for urinary system disorders, 16 for gastric disorders, nine for cancer and prostate disorders, eight for arthritis, five for respiratory problems, and five for other ailments. Indices on fidelity levels (FLs), relative popularity level (RPL), and rank-order priority (ROP) were calculated. Plants were classified in two groups: 'popular' (RPL=1) or 'unpopular' (RPL<1). The following plant species were classified as popular in this study: Teucrium polium, Matricaria aurea, Urtica pilulifera, Paronychia argentea, Petroselinum sativum, and Salvia fruticosa. The remaining 57 species were classified as 'unpopular'. Fifty-nine plants were claimed to be effective against cancer and prostate disorders, which include Arum dioscorides, U. pilulifera, Allium sativum, Viscum cruciatum, and Allium cepa.

0 comments Cited 76 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Tradition and Perspectives of Arab Herbal Medicine: A Review

Bashar Saad, Hassan Azaizeh, Omar Said (2005)

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), including herbal medicine, are popular in the general population worldwide. Parallel to the increasing interest in ‘modern’ CAM therapies and the historical importance of Arab medicine, there is also a similar trend in research activities dealing with the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants in our region. Historical and current studies and surveys indicate that the Eastern region of the Mediterranean has been distinguished throughout the generations with a rich inventory of natural medicinal herbs. It is well documented that indigenous Arab medicine has contributed greatly to the development of modern medicine in Europe and remains one of the closest forms of original European medicine. The rapid increase in consumption of herbal remedies worldwide has been stimulated by several factors, including the notion that all herbal products are safe and effective. This article presents a systematic review on traditional Arab medicine including historical background, medical innovations introduced by Arab physicians in the field of safety and efficacy of herbal medicine and a state-of-the-art description of traditional Arab herbal medicine in the Mediterranean region.

0 comments Cited 75 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Ahmad M. Samara: ahmadmsamara15@gmail.com

Ethar R. Barabra: Ethar.riyad1993@gmail.com

Hala N. Quzaih: Halah_eqzahe94@hotmail.com

Sa’ed H. Zyoud:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7369-2058

saedzyoud@yahoo.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Complement Altern Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Complement Altern Med

Title: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6882

Publication date (Electronic): 2 April 2019

Publication date PMC-release: 2 April 2019

Publication date Collection: 2019

Volume: 19

Electronic Location Identifier: 78

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0631 5695, GRID grid.11942.3f, Department of Medicine, , College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, ; Nablus, 44839 Palestine

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0631 5695, GRID grid.11942.3f, Poison Control and Drug Information Center (PCDIC), , College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, ; Nablus, 44839 Palestine

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0631 5695, GRID grid.11942.3f, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, , College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, ; Nablus, 44839 Palestine

Author information

Sa’ed H. Zyoud http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7369-2058

Article

Publisher ID: 2492

DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2492-x

PMC ID: 6444598

PubMed ID: 30940118

SO-VID: 0b27b96b-2373-44f7-9150-b9dd0b4420cb

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.