Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Complementary Medicine of Healthcare Staff in Gonabad, 2014

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine and its efficacy is different from that of conventional medicine. Objectives: Owing to the growing use of CAM in our country, the aim of this study was to evaluate the level of awareness, attitude, and performance of employees in Gonabad, 2014. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in 2014 conducted in Gonabad healthcare center with 237 workers (122 male and 115 female) and with a mean age of 31.57±8.34. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analysed using SPSS software. Results: The results were considered significant when P value was less than 0.05. The level of staff knowledge was low (21.08 ± 6.61), but 94.1% of the staff had positive attitude and more than 60% of them had a good performance level. As many as 5.1% had experience of traditional medicine courses, while 53.2% had experience of using a CAM for treatment. As many as 56.11% said that traditional medicine had been useful in their treatment. The most used method was the use of herbal medicine (48.3%), while the least used methods were meditation, hypnosis, traditional bath, and aromatherapy. As many as 65% of employees would recommend to others different methods of traditional medicine, and 90.7% knew the necessity of allocating traditional medicine course. Conclusion: According to the findings,Gonabadhealth carestaff have a low level of knowledge, but a good attitude and practice of CAM are necessary through workshops to raise awareness of the CAM.