Factors associated with pediatrician attitudes over the use of complementary and traditional medicine on children in Muscat, Oman

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of pediatricians toward the use of complementary and Traditional Medicine (TM) on children in Muscat, Oman. A cross-sectional survey was performed using a self-completed questionnaire during the year 2012. A total of 67 pediatricians, comprising of 30 males (44.8%) and 37 females (55.2%) participated in the study. The majority of the studied group (83.5%) was of the opinion that most types of complementary and TM are not safe for children, except spiritual healing, to which 53.7% considered as safe. About one third (29.9%) of the participants reported that they might recommend complementary and TM for sick children in the future. Almost half the participants (52.2%) acknowledged personal use of complementary and TM in the past and 67.2% reported that their family members used these medicines. Herbal therapy was found to be the most commonly used method (38.9%) followed by spiritual (33.9%), cautery (20.2%) and Curucoma (15.7%). Other methods, which include; acupuncture, bone healing and Chinese healing were also found to be in use but in rare manner. Knowledge level of TM and complementary medicine of most of the doctors was found to be low but one third of them acknowledged that they may recommend these treatments to their patients in future. Therefore, training pediatricians on the types, benefits and side effects of complementary and TM is recommended.

Swiss paediatrician survey on complementary medicine

“…A general problem with surveys is the low response rate. We achieved a response rate of 34%, which is above the mean response rate (30%) for similar surveys of paediatricians on CM published previously [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. With a sample size of 640, our survey is one of the largest on this topic [11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…We achieved a response rate of 34%, which is above the mean response rate (30%) for similar surveys of paediatricians on CM published previously [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. With a sample size of 640, our survey is one of the largest on this topic [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. While we sent only one reminder, higher response rates could have been realised with more reminders, as shown in the AAP survey from 2001 (one invitation and five reminders, response rate 46%) [12].…”

“…It is the medical and sociocultural background of a country that determines which CM methods are most prevalent there, and whether they are practised alone or in conjunction with conventional medicine in an integrative setting. This holds true for paediatrics, as shown by the different surveys published on this question [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Comparing the results of studies from different countries is therefore challenging, and should be limited to the overall findings.…”

“…their position and general opinion on CM, has not been investigated so far. Data on paediatrician attitudes exist from the USA [11][12][13][14], the Netherlands [15,16] and Oman [17]. It is also unknown how many paediatricians in Switzerland have attended additional training in one or more CM methods.…”

An Ethnomedical Perspective of Arabic Traditional Cauterization; Al-Kaiy

“…In Oman, A survey conducted among pediatricians in Muscat reported that 9% of pediatricians, and 31% of their family members used cauterization which called Wasm or Wasam in Oman. Cauterization is widly practiced in Oman for the treatment of cancer [28,29]. Furthermore, fathers transferred their practice of cauterization knowledge to sons.…”