Complementary and Alternative Medicine Attitudes of Gynecologic Patients: Experience in a Tertiary Clinic

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding complementary and alternative medicine methods of patients who were admitted to gynecology outpatient clinics. Methods In the present survey, a questionnaire on complementary and alternative medicine practices was applied on 1,000 women (ages between 18 and 83 years old) who were admitted to the gynecology outpatient clinic of a tertiary maternity hospital. Demographic features and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about these methods were inquired in face-to-face interviews. Results While 80.7% of the total participants thought that complementary and alternative medicine was beneficial, only 37.5% of them had used these methods previously. The rate of prior knowledge on this subject was of 59.7% and the source of information was physicians for 8.5% of the patients. However, 72.4% of all participants wanted to obtain information on these methods and 93.7% wanted to be informed by physicians. In the decision tree model, having knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine was the most effective factor determining its use (p < 0.001). Phytotherapy was found to be the most used method, with 91.4%. The most preferred plant was onion (18.9%), and the most common reasons for herbal use were stress (15.4%) and fatigue (15.2%). Conclusion More than one-third of the patients who applied to the gynecology outpatient clinics used one of the complementary and alternative medicine methods at least once. As gynecologists and obstetricians, we need to be more knowledgeable about these methods to provide correct guidance to our patients for accessing accurate and effective information.

The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Coping with Stress by Patients with Gynecological Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study in Türkiye

“…The use of CAM among patients with gynecological cancer is stated between 31 and 80% [6–9, 11, 29, 30]. In this study, the prevalence of the use of CAM in patients with gynecological cancer was 39.2%.…”

“…The aim of this study was to determine the use of CAM and coping with stress by patients with gynecological cancer, the relationships between them, and the factors that predict the approaches to coping with stress in women with gynecological cancer in western Türkiye. There are many studies examining the use of CAM in patients with gynecological cancer in the literature [7–9, 11, 21, 23]. Although the number of studies examining the coping with stress approaches of patients with gynecological cancer with the SCSS is few in the international literature and Türkiye, the SCSS is a frequently used scale in different samples (such as families of disabled people and health professionals) [10, 17, 25–28].…”

“…The most prominent types of CAM were herbal products (43.8%) and supplication (42.5%). In other studies conducted in Türkiye, it was determined that 28.2–86.2% of the patients with gynecological cancer used CAM, and the most prominent CAM types were herbal products (61.8–90.2%) and supplication (41.5–59.5%) [9, 21–23, 29]. In a Swedish study, 31% of patients with gynecological cancer use CAM, and 66% of them use vitamins and minerals [30].…”

“…Gynecologic cancer is one of the cancer types with a very high incidence and mortality. Studies have reported that patients with gynecological cancer prefer the use of CAM quite frequently [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. According to the Global Cancer Surveillance Data (GLOBOCAN) 2020 report, among the top ten cancer types, the cervix (15.6%) ranks 4th, the uterus 6th (10.8%), and ovary cancer 8th (8.1%).…”

“…However, studies on how the use of CAM affects patients with gynecological cancer and treatment are insufficient. The positive-negative effects of the use of CAM on the treatment of gynecological cancer or the nature of the cancer are not entirely clear [2, 5, 6, 9, 20–23]. In addition, there were very few studies on how to cope with this intense stress of patients with gynecological cancer [10, 17].…”