Attitudes to and use of complementary medicine among physicians in the United Kingdom

doi:10.1054/ctim.2001.0475

Complementary Therapies in Medicine

Volume 9, Issue 3, September 2001, Pages 167-172

https://doi.org/10.1054/ctim.2001.0475 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the use of attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among UK physicians. Design: Postal questionnaire. Subjects: All Members and Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians. Results: Twelve thousand, one hundred and sixty eight Members and Fellows were surveyed and a response rate of 23% (n = 2,875) was obtained. Responses from the small numbers of general practitioners (n = 127) were not included in the analyses, resulting in a sample size of 2,748: 79% of respondents were in NHS practice, 32% of respondents practised CAM themselves, and 41% referred patients to CAM; of those who referred patients, 78% referred between 0–3 patients per month. CAM is used by physicians more frequently in private as compared to NHS practice. Acupuncture, aromatherapy and manipulative medicine (osteopathy and chiropractic) are the most commonly referred to and the most commonly practised therapies. Eighty seven percent of those using CAM themselves, or as part of their clinical team's commitment, had not had any CAM training. Attitudes to CAM were generally positive, particularly among those in palliative care, rehabilitation, nuclear medicine, and genito-urinary medicine. Conclusions: Our conclusions must be tempered by the limited response rate, but assuming all non-responders were disinterested in CAM, then at least one in ten UK specialist physicians are actively involved in CAM treatments, although only 13% of our sample had received any CAM training.

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This cross sectional study of therapists registered in the Experience Medicine Register (EMR) was conducted as online survey in 2017 in Switzerland in three different languages. Therapists first selected one possible treatment option as their most often used intervention for their patients. Afterwards, they indicated the complaints treated with this kind of intervention. Data were analysed descriptively.
Of 17,647 initially invited therapists 3942 responded (22.3%) and data from 3638 therapists could be analysed. Therapists were often females in their own practice and they had high job satisfaction, but were less satisfied with the collaboration with medical doctors. Therapists stated that they most often provide classical massage, craniosacral therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, naturopathic practices and medical massage. French speaking therapists stated that they more often provided osteopathy and manual lymphatic drainage but less often craniosacral therapy compared with the German speaking therapists. Headache and back pain were named as the most common treated complaints.
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There are approximately 1200 conventional medical doctors in Mangalore, India. In February 2017, semistructured self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 200 medical practitioners. The association between categorical variables was analyzed using a χ² test and those involving continuous variables using unpaired t test, analysis of variance, and Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation. A P value ≤ .05 was considered statistically significant.
Of the surveys, 163 were returned and 129 were satisfactorily completed, giving a response rate of 64.5%. Mean age was 39.9 ± 11.9 years, and most 94 (72.9%) were male. A majority, 96 (74.4%), recommended ICAM to their patients. Nine had some training in ICAM modalities, and 76 (58.9%) participants reported personal usage of ICAM. Regarding perception toward effectiveness of ICAM, 33 (25.6%) felt that it was effective or somewhat effective. However, 82 (63.6%) participants felt that lack of sufficient scientific evidence was a major drawback of ICAM. However, 39 (30.2%) participants felt that ICAM should be part of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery curricula. Favorable perception toward ICAM (P < .001) and personal usage of ICAM (P < .001) was associated with participants recommending any ICAM for their patients. Elderly practitioners (aged above 65 years) (P = .003) and practitioners with favorable perception regarding effectiveness of ICAM (P = .033) recommended a higher number of types of ICAM to their patients. Favorable perception toward effectiveness of ICAM was associated with favorable perception toward inclusion of ICAM in medical curriculum among participants (P = .002).
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Doctors and interns of allopathic medicine are aware of AYUSH systems. They use it for themselves and recommend it to patients. They believe that familiarization of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery students with AYUSH therapies and their integration with allopathic medicine may help in improving patient care.
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Background/aim: Although complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is highly prevalent, there is very limited information on dermatologists’ attitudes and knowledge about CAM. In this survey, we aimed to study the knowledge and attitude of dermatologists in Saudi Arabia towards CAM. Furthermore, we assessed dermatologists' intention to receive CAM education and training. Methods and design: We collected data through an online cross-sectional survey sent to email addresses of dermatologists in Saudi Arabia. Questions included socio-demographic data, knowledge and attitudes towards CAM practice. Results: A total of 93 questionnaires were returned from dermatologists in various regions of Saudi Arabia. The mean age was 41.7 ± 10.3 (range, 25–63) years. A total of 67% of dermatologists had welcoming attitudes towards CAM. We did not find any significant relationship between age, gender, experience or any other factor and positive attitudes towards CAM. More than 70% of participants reported an interest in learning about CAM. However, only 9 (9.7%) dermatologists had attended CAM courses. Sixty-one participants (65.6%) were eager to receive CAM-specific education, and 66% of dermatologists acknowledged having previously discussed CAM with their patients. The most important reason that dermatologists did not discuss CAM with their patients was a lack of studies supporting CAM (66.7%) and the belief that doctors’ knowledge on CAM is insufficient (58.1%). Conclusion: A greater number of dermatologists have an affirmative attitude towards CAM. The willingness to improve knowledge and training indicates that the CAM field could potentially grow in dermatology.
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The aim of the study was to assess and compare attitudes, beliefs, and desire for education regarding CAM among Polish junior and senior doctors.
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Citation Excerpt :
Herbal medicine had one of the highest perception of adverse effects in both the groups, probably because it works through biochemical principles that are more likely to produce adverse effects. Although we did not find a difference in physicians׳ recommendations of CAM to patients by gender, as in previous reports,12,13 we observed that female physicians tended to use more meditation and yoga and to recommend more meditation than their male counterparts. Furthermore, female researchers were more prone to use CAM in general and acupuncture, yoga and reiki in particular than their male counterparts, indicating a higher receptiveness of women to these CAM therapies.
The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased in many countries, and this has altered the knowledge, attitudes, and treatment recommendations of health professionals in regard to CAM.
Considering Mexican health professionals׳ lack of knowledge of CAM, in this report we surveyed 100 biomedical researchers and Ph.D. students and 107 specialized physicians and residents of a medical specialty in Guadalajara, México (Western Mexico) with a questionnaire to address their attitudes, knowledge, use, and recommendation of CAM.
We observed that significantly more researchers had ever used CAM than physicians (83% vs. 69.2%, P = .023) and that only 36.4% of physicians had ever recommended CAM. Female researchers tended to have ever used CAM more than male researchers, but CAM use did not differ between genders in the physician group or by age in either group. Homeopathy, herbal medicine, and massage therapy were the most commonly used CAMs in both the groups. Physicians more frequently recommended homeopathy, massage therapy, and yoga to their patients than other forms of CAM, and physicians had the highest perception of safety and had taken the most courses in homeopathy. All CAMs were perceived to have high efficacy (>60%) in both the groups. The attitude questionnaire reported favorable attitudes toward CAM in both the groups.
We observed a high rate of Mexican health professionals that had ever used CAM, and they had mainly used homeopathy, massage therapy, and herbal medicine. However, the recommendation rate of CAM by Mexican physicians was significantly lower than that in other countries, which is probably due to the lack of CAM training in most Mexican medical schools.

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Regular ArticleAttitudes to and use of complementary medicine among physicians in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Lancet

Lancet

Complement Ther Med

Soc Sci Med

Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States, 1990-1997. Results of a follow-up National Survey

JAMA

Complementary and alternative medicine: an educational, attitudinal and research challenge

Med J of Aus

Access to complementary medicine via general practice

Brit J Gen Pract

Complementary Medicine

A Research Perspective

Why patients use alternative medicine. Results of a National Survey

JAMA

Complementary medicine: attitudes and expectations, a scale for evaluation

Complement Med Res

The Centre for the Study of Complementary Medicine: an attempt to understand its popularity through psychological, demographic and operational criteria

Complement Med Res

Regular Article
Attitudes to and use of complementary medicine among physicians in the United Kingdom