Exploring self-use, attitude and interest to study complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among final year undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students in Sierra Leone: A comparative study

James, PB; Bah, AJ; Kondorvoh, IM

Exploring self-use, attitude and interest to study complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among final year undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students in Sierra Leone: A comparative study

James, PB

Bah, AJ Kondorvoh, IM

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2016, 16 (1)
Issue Date:: 2016-04-27

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	James, PB https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6373-5704	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bah, AJ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kondorvoh, IM	en_US
dc.date.available	2016-04-21	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-04-27	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2016, 16 (1)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/131615
dc.description.abstract	© 2016 James et al. Background: CAM inclusion into the curricula of health training institutions, a strategy for its integration into the main stream healthcare delivery system is growing globally. Future healthcare professionals knowledge and perception of CAM are key determinants to its successful integration. Thus, the main objective of this study was to compare the use, attitude and interest to study CAM among final year undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences University of Sierra Leone (COMAHS-USL). Methods: A questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was carried out among final year medical, pharmacy and nursing students enrolled at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences University of Sierra Leone (COMAHS-USL). Chi square, fisher exact two tailed test and Kruskal-wallis test were used to analyze data collected. Results: Close to two-thirds (61%) of all the three groups of final year students used one form of CAM or the other with pharmacy (72.7%) and nursing (55.6%) students being the highest and least users respectively. No significant difference was observed among the three groups. In general, final year students in all three cadres demonstrated a positive attitude toward CAM (33.80 ± 3. 2) with medical students showing more positive attitude than pharmacy (p = 0.022) and nursing student (p = 0.008). No significant difference in attitude was observed between students in pharmacy and nursing programs (p = 0.354). More than three quarter (76.6%) of the students in all the three groups indicated their interest in studying CAM, with preference for the subject to be taught as an elective module (81.6%). Conclusion: An appreciable number of final year medical, pharmacy and nursing students at COMAHS-USL have used at least one CAM modality and demonstrated an overall positive attitude towards CAM. Interest to study CAM was also observed among most of them even though they preferred it to be taught as an elective module.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1186/s12906-016-1102-4	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Complementary & Alternative Medicine	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Humans	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Complementary Therapies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Cross-Sectional Studies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Attitude	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Students, Medical	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Students, Nursing	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Students, Pharmacy	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Adult	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Sierra Leone	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Female	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Male	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Young Adult	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Surveys and Questionnaires	en_US
dc.title	Exploring self-use, attitude and interest to study complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among final year undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students in Sierra Leone: A comparative study	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	16	en_US
utslib.for	1104 Complementary and Alternative Medicine	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	16	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016 James et al. Background: CAM inclusion into the curricula of health training institutions, a strategy for its integration into the main stream healthcare delivery system is growing globally. Future healthcare professionals knowledge and perception of CAM are key determinants to its successful integration. Thus, the main objective of this study was to compare the use, attitude and interest to study CAM among final year undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences University of Sierra Leone (COMAHS-USL). Methods: A questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was carried out among final year medical, pharmacy and nursing students enrolled at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences University of Sierra Leone (COMAHS-USL). Chi square, fisher exact two tailed test and Kruskal-wallis test were used to analyze data collected. Results: Close to two-thirds (61%) of all the three groups of final year students used one form of CAM or the other with pharmacy (72.7%) and nursing (55.6%) students being the highest and least users respectively. No significant difference was observed among the three groups. In general, final year students in all three cadres demonstrated a positive attitude toward CAM (33.80 ± 3. 2) with medical students showing more positive attitude than pharmacy (p = 0.022) and nursing student (p = 0.008). No significant difference in attitude was observed between students in pharmacy and nursing programs (p = 0.354). More than three quarter (76.6%) of the students in all the three groups indicated their interest in studying CAM, with preference for the subject to be taught as an elective module (81.6%). Conclusion: An appreciable number of final year medical, pharmacy and nursing students at COMAHS-USL have used at least one CAM modality and demonstrated an overall positive attitude towards CAM. Interest to study CAM was also observed among most of them even though they preferred it to be taught as an elective module.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/131615