Commentary: Knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary and alternative medicine: a survey of Iranian nurses.

Abstract

This study acknowledges the increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within the Iranian population and it highlights a corresponding need for nurses to be better informed about CAM if they are to support patients in this respect. I concur with the authors’ assertion that nurses tend to have a relatively low knowledge base in relation to CAM and I share their enthusiasm for the inclusion of CAM in nursing curricula. Although I was struck by the similarities between this study and comparable Western observations, with which I am more familiar, it is undoubtedly difficult to meaningfully translate research findings from one cultural community to another. The study therefore has the potential to inform future practice and policy development in nursing, specific to the context of Iranian health care. A questionnaire approach is applied to determine levels of knowledge and attitude to CAM amongst nurses working in Iranian hospitals. Although this approach can prove useful in terms of raising awareness and encouraging an atmosphere of curiosity, I would encourage the authors to now consider how qualitative approaches, thoughtfully selected, might clarify and elaborate on their initial findings. It is my experience, for example, that CAM is very slow to infiltrate nursing curricula and that progress in this respect is dependent on collaboration and consensus between educators, practitioners and, wherever possible, by embracing the patient perspective in curricula design. This can be achieved by drawing on qualitative approaches that: facilitate engagement between groups as a means for exposing and debating difference; provide insight into meanings that underpin health care behaviour; and permeate professional barriers that hinder collaborative practice. In the context of this particular study, such approaches would enable a shared understanding about CAM to emerge, from a range of personal, professional and patient perspectives.