Knowledge and Attitudes towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Senior Medical Students in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objectives. This study assessed the knowledge and attitudes regarding complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in medical students in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, it evaluated their views on the incorporation of CAM in their medical syllabus. Methods. The study was conducted by selecting a cross-sectional sample of senior medical students in the Faculty of Medicine. A validated and reliable self-administered questionnaire was used to explore the knowledge, attitude, and benefits of CAM. It was distributed to a sample of 273 students. Results. The study included 242 students, making the response rate 88.6%. Only two-thirds of students (62.4%) were aware of acupuncture principles and only 17.4% recognized that chiropractic is associated with pain management. The knowledge of common herbs such as St. John's Wort, Echinacea, and Ginkgo biloba was limited among the students. Older students had a positive CAM attitude compared to younger students (p = 0.027). Conclusion. Students attitudes toward CAM learning were encouraging regardless of their limited knowledge on the subject. A high percentage of students agreed that CAM in combination with conventional therapy is beneficial in treating unusual cases, but the choice of CAM should be based on evidence. Furthermore, medical students are still reluctant to have CAM practitioners in their referral network.

Knowledge, beliefs, and influences associated with complementary and alternative medicine among physiotherapy and counselling students

“…At the time of data collection, it was estimated that a maximum of 700 physiotherapy students and 100 counselling students would be enrolled. These numbers are comparable with the numbers enrolled in previous surveys on the same topic (Alzahrani, Bashawri, Salawati, & Bakarman, 2016;Kanadiya, Klein, & Shubrook, 2012;Lie & Boker, 2004;Pokladnikova & Lie, 2008;Trail-Mahan, Mao, & Bawel-Brinkley, 2013).…”

Perception and utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among University of Sharjah (UOS) students

“…To our knowledge, this is the first report on the knowledge and utilization of CAM at Sharjah, UAE. The obtained data showed a strong correlation between being female students and CAM knowledge (P≤0.041) which is coincident with the data reported in KSA [22] , and Turkey [23] .…”

Medical Students’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Tanta City, Gharbiyah Governorate, Egypt

“…Consistent with our study, the study reported positive attitude of medical students' learning of CAM despite limited knowledge of certain CAM therapies like acupuncture and herbs such as St. John's Wort. In addition, the subjects emphasized that the evidence-based CAM in conjunction with modern medicine may help patients with atypical cases, and surprisingly, medical students did not like the idea to refer patients to CAM practitioners [14].…”