Knowledge, attitude and practice toward complementary and traditional medicine among Kashan health care staff, 2012

Objectives: Studies show that medical staff in different countries have different attitudes toward traditional and complementary medicine. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of complementary and traditional medicine by medical staff of Kashan, Iran.

Design: A cross-sectional study was performed.

Setting: A total of 378 questionnaires were distributed among health care team members in Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2012. The questionnaire was consisted of 5 questions regarding demographic characteristics and 12 questions on knowledge, attitude and practice of traditional and complementary medicine. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: In total, 309 questionnaires were returned and 302 questionnaires were analyzed. Among the participants, 60.9% were female. The mean age of subjects was 29.70±9.28 years. Totally, 88.4% of the participants had no previous education on complementary and traditional medicine, and 77.8% showed interest to learn in this area. Also, 57.6% of participants had the experience of personal use of complementary and traditional therapies. The commonly used methods were: herbal therapy, cupping and traditional bathing. Participants used traditional medicine mostly for digestive diseases, colds, migraine and headaches, skin disorders, losing weight, and diabetes. Moreover, 56% of participants had recommended complementary and traditional therapies to the others.

Conclusions: Most of the participants had low level knowledge on complementary and traditional medicine, but expressed their interest to learn in this field. Therefore, training health care team members and especially nurses and doctors on the applications, benefits and side effects of complementary and traditional medicine is recommended.