The Knowledge Level and Opinions of Medical Faculty Students About Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Abstract

Objective: Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) is a popular topic in healthcare community. It has become an expectation of the health professionals to learn about T&CM and form an opinion. In this study, the knowledge levels and opinions of medical students regarding T&CM were investigated. Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study and was applied to students of Giresun University Faculty of Medicine between April and May 2019. Statistical analyzes were evaluated using the SPSS 20.0 package program. Results: A total of 140 students were included in the study and female students were the majority (59.7%). Among the students, the T&CM method which had the highest level of awareness was the cupping therapy (82.1%). T&CM applications were mostly learned from the media (47.1%). The rate of those who wanted to perform applications related to complementary medicine was 24.3%. 47.9% of the students had positive views on T&CM. The rate of those who heard T&CM applications in the news and the media presented with a positive manner was 59.3%. The rate of those who thought that classical medicine and T&CM can complement each other was 84.3%. It was seen that students whose family members tried T&CM had more positive opinions towards T&CM (p = 0,04). Conclusion: Our results suggested that there was a high interest in complementary medicine among medical students. This interest warrants a curriculum in which classical medicine and T&CM can be integrated.