RESEARCH NEWS: Medical Student Attitudes Toward Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine - survey results

According to survey conducted by UCLA and UC San Diego researchers, published in the online issue of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, three-quarters of medical students feel that Western medicine would benefit from integrating complementary, alternative and integrative medicine (CAM) therapies and ideas. Some of the findings included that 77 percent of participants agreed to some extent that patients whose doctors know about CAM in addition to conventional medicine, benefit more than those whose doctors are only familiar with Western medicine; and 74 percent of participants agreed to some extent that a system of medicine that integrates therapies of conventional and CAM would be more effective than either type of medicine provided independently.

If you, as a retailer, are currently partnered with a health practitioner or profession that practices CAM therapies, this is an excellent point to note to your customers and other affiliates - put this information in your next newsletter, and inform your staff. Your products can be tied to CAM therapies and treatments; use the interest in complementary, alternative and integrative medicine therapies and ideas to your advantage when merchandising, marketing, educating and deseminating information to your customers.

Check out ihr and IHP magazines for more!

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Medical Student Attitudes Toward Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine

Abstract:

While the use of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine (CAIM) is substantial, it continues to exist at the periphery of allopathic medicine. Understanding the attitudes of medical students toward CAIM will be useful in understanding future integration of CAIM and allopathic medicine. This study was conducted to develop and evaluate an instrument and assess medical students’ attitudes toward CAIM. The Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire (CAIMAQ) was developed by a panel of experts in CAIM, allopathic medicine, medical education and survey development. A total of 1770 CAIMAQ surveys (51% of US medical schools participated) were obtained in a national sample of medical students in 2007. Factor analysis of the CAIMAQ revealed five distinct attitudinal domains: desirability of CAIM therapies, progressive patient/physician health care roles, mind–body–spirit connection, principles of allostasis and a holistic understanding of disease. The students held the most positive attitude for the ‘mind–body–spirit connection’ and the least positive for the ‘desirability of CAIM therapies’. This study provided initial support for the reliability of the CAIMAQ. The survey results indicated that in general students responded more positively to the principles of CAIM than to CAIM treatment. A higher quality of CAIM-related medical education and expanded research into CAIM therapies would facilitate appropriate integration of CAIM into medical curricula. The most significant limitation of this study is a low response rate, and further work is required to assess more representative populations in order to determine whether the relationships found in this study are generalizable.

Source: eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nep195