General Physicians’ Attitude and Decision-Making Towards Herbal Medicines Prescription: A Scenario-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Hamadan, Iran

Introduction

Although general physicians (GPs) considerably affect herbal medicines (HMs) consumption, there is not enough insight into their attitude and behaviour towards prescribing HMs. This study investigated the GPs’ attitudes towards HMs, the relationship between their attitude and the general preference for HMs, and the effect of the following variables on their prescription decisions for HMs: (1) GP’s experience regarding the effectiveness of that HM, (2) access to the side effects information, (3) patient's payment capacity, and (4) patient’s attitude towards HMs.

Methods

A survey was conducted in Hamadan, Iran. GPs’ demographics, attitude, and decision towards prescribing HMs were asked. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis, logistic regression, and correlation.

Results

SSixty GPs’ data were analyzed. Their attitude was not very positive; only 16.6% often or always preferred HMs. The likelihood of prescribing HMs was increased by positive experiences with effectiveness (OR=11.2, p-value=0.000, CI: 5.2-24.4) and access to side effects information (OR=6.9, p-value=0.000, CI: 3.5-13.9). Affordability problems reduced the chance of HM prescription for mild (OR=1.8, p-value=0.012, CI: 1.1–2.9) and severe problems (OR=6.9, p-value=0.000, CI: 3.6–13.3). Patient’s positive opinion about HMs increased the probability of HMs prescription compared to neutral (OR=2.6, p-value= 0.002, CI: 1.4 – 4.8) and negative opinion (OR=9.4, p-value=0.000, CI: 4.1–21.3). No significant influence was observed for GP’s sex, age and experience. The model correctly predicted 80.89% of stated decisionss.

Conclusions

Enhancement of GPs and patients’ trust in HMs’ effectiveness and safety and improve these products’ affordability is suggested to increase HMs’ prescription by GPs.