BACKGROUND

Community pharmacists are strategically positioned to dispense Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) products as part of their innate roles in the provision of accurate drug information to patients. This unique position of the pharmacist could be best realized if equipped with good knowledge and skills in regard to CAM products.

This study aimed to assess the readiness of community pharmacists in the provision of CAM productrelated information to patients by assessing the knowledge and determined the attitudes and practices of community pharmacists regarding CAM products in Eastern Visayas, Philippines.

A descriptive mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) survey design was utilized in this study. Community pharmacists (n=58) in Eastern Visayas, Philippines were the research participants in the study. The survey questionnaire constituted four sections: socio-demographic profile, attitudes, practices, and knowledge of community pharmacists on CAM products. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 20.

Results revealed that the majority of respondents are female (87.93%), age range in between 21-30 (62.07%), working full-time (79.31%), and bachelor’s degree holder (98.28%). More than half of the participants (53.45%) did not receive any education or training on CAM products during undergraduate studies. Community pharmacists displayed strong positive attitudes (mean=3.74) and had a moderate frequency of practice on CAM products (mean=3.20). The knowledge test revealed that only a few of the community pharmacists (31.03%) were considered knowledgeable. A significant relationship between years of work experience in community pharmacy and knowledge was found in this study.

Despite having strong attitude and moderate level of practice, community pharmacists in Eastern Visayas showed a low level of knowledge on CAM products. Demand for CAM products by patients encouraged community pharmacists to dispense and provide information. Readiness of community pharmacists in terms of knowledge provision of CAM product-related information to patients were found to be insufficient while a moderate level of practice towards CAM products was reported. Community pharmacists displayed a strong positive attitude towards CAM products. Overall, the community pharmacists are not ready to provide CAM information service in the context of the knowledge, attitude, and practices.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased over the years. Although the incidence of CAM use among general and disease-specific groups has been researched, little is known about CAM use among Filipino dermatological patients. This study aims to determine the extent and nature of complementary medicine use among patients with dermatologic problems seen in this institution.

This is a descriptive, prospective study that made use of a researcher-created questionnaire to determine the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine. Six months of research were undertaken at the Dermatology clinic of a tertiary hospital. It utilized convenience sampling technique consisting of patients who visited the Dermatology clinic for an in-person consultation.

Sixty-five percent of the participants had attempted at least one kind of CAM to treat their dermatological condition, with the majority of participants between the ages of 18 and 25 (25.3%). The most prevalent condition treated with CAM was allergies (36.7%) of unknown etiology, followed by fungal infection (17.7%) and eczema (11.4%). Herbal medicine (65.8%) was the most popular method among respondents, followed by folk medicine, which was primarily recommended by family/relatives. The majority of CAM users were influenced by others, and several were financially challenged. Most CAM users reported no or minimal disease improvement, and the majority do not recommend CAM to others.

This is the first study to investigate the use of complementary and alternative medicine in dermatologic diseases in general in the country. Board-certified dermatologist should keep an open mind towards patients who might seek out other type of treatment, either as an adjunct or an alternative, given the high prevalence of CAM users among dermatology patients.

BACKGROUND

Traditional and alternative medicine (TAM) is increasingly recognized for its potential to complement conventional medicine. However, its acceptance and perspectives among medical doctors remain underexplored, particularly in Zamboanga City.

To assess the level of acceptance, perspectives, and reasons influencing medical doctors’ willingness or hesitancy to advise TAM.

Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 230 medical doctors from public and private institutions. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data underwent thematic analysis.

74.8% of respondents exhibited high acceptance of TAM, 21.3% were neutral, and 3.9% showed low acceptance. Most believed TAM could enhance patient satisfaction (53.48%) and improve quality of life (62.61%). However, 61.3% reported slight-to-moderate comfort in discussing TAM, and 43.91% rarely initiated such conversations. A majority (55.65%) supported TAM services being delivered by physicians trained in TAM alongside Department of Health-registered professionals, preferably integrated in primary care (38.26%) or hospital-based settings (30%). Willingness to advise TAM was driven by professional development opportunities (58.7%) and improved regulation (57.39%), whereas hesitancy stemmed from concerns about insufficient scientific evidence (65.65%) and lack of regulation (61.3%). Interest in TAM training was high (63.48%), particularly in acupuncture and herbal medicine. Thematic analysis identified key barriers (limited evidence, regulatory gaps, and training deficits) and facilitators (education, policy standardization, research, and educational curriculum integration).

Strong interest in TAM integration exists, contingent on training and regulatory improvements. Findings highlight the need for targeted education, policy reforms, and evidence generation to support evidence-based TAM inclusion in Philippine healthcare.

Background: Community pharmacists are strategically positioned to dispense Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) products as part of their innate roles in the provision of accurate drug information to patients. This unique position of the pharmacist could be best realized if equipped with good knowledge and skills in regard to CAM products. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the readiness of community pharmacists in the provision of CAM productrelated information to patients by assessing the knowledge and determined the attitudes and practices of community pharmacists regarding CAM products in Eastern Visayas, Philippines. Methods: A descriptive mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) survey design was utilized in this study. Community pharmacists (n=58) in Eastern Visayas, Philippines were the research participants in the study. The survey questionnaire constituted four sections: socio-demographic profile, attitudes, practices, and knowledge of community pharmacists on CAM products. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 20. Results: Results revealed that the majority of respondents are female (87.93%), age range in between 21-30 (62.07%), working full-time (79.31%), and bachelor’s degree holder (98.28%). More than half of the participants (53.45%) did not receive any education or training on CAM products during undergraduate studies. Community pharmacists displayed strong positive attitudes (mean=3.74) and had a moderate frequency of practice on CAM products (mean=3.20). The knowledge test revealed that only a few of the community pharmacists (31.03%) were considered knowledgeable. A significant relationship between years of work experience in community pharmacy and knowledge was found in this study. Conclusion Despite having strong attitude and moderate level of practice, community pharmacists in Eastern Visayas showed a low level of knowledge on CAM products. Demand for CAM products by patients encouraged community pharmacists to dispense and provide information. Readiness of community pharmacists in terms of knowledge provision of CAM product-related information to patients were found to be insufficient while a moderate level of practice towards CAM products was reported. Community pharmacists displayed a strong positive attitude towards CAM products. Overall, the community pharmacists are not ready to provide CAM information service in the context of the knowledge, attitude, and practices.
Complementary Therapies ; Medicine, Traditional ; Philippines

OBJECTIVE: Patients with gynecological cancer commonly use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods to cope with the disease. However, despite the existence of treatment strategies, the effect of fear and anxiety caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on attitudes about CAM use is unclear. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of fear and anxiety experienced by patients with gynecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic on their attitudes towards the use of CAM. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that included 177 women with gynecological cancer; participants were recruited from a social networking site for cancer patients in Turkey between June and December 2021. Data were collected using an online survey that included the Personal Information Form, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and the Attitude Towards Holistic Complementary and Alternative Medicine Scale. Descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson's correlation test, and simple linear and multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze the data. RESULTS: During the pandemic, 55.4% of the participants reported using CAM methods, but only 22.6% were using CAM before the pandemic. The participants who used CAM during the pandemic also scored higher on the fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus anxiety scales (20.69 ± 5.37 and 13.09 ± 6.29, respectively) compared to the participants who did not use CAM (9.29 ± 2.72 and 6.35 ± 2.06, respectively). Fear of COVID-19 accounted for 52% of the CAM attitude score, while coronavirus anxiety accounted for 15% of the CAM attitude score. Fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus anxiety together accounted for 53% of CAM attitude. CONCLUSION Gynecological cancer patients with high levels of COVID-19-related anxiety and fear during the pandemic used CAM more. Given that the psychological effects of the pandemic will continue in the coming years, CAM use should be evaluated as a coping strategy, especially due to the COVID-19-related anxiety and fear experienced by patients with gynecological cancer. While the rational and effective CAM methods should be supported, strategies should be developed to prevent misuse of CAM and its interference in prescribed medical treatments. Please cite this article as: Uslu-Sahan F, Yesilcınar I, Kurt G, Hancer E, Guvenc G. Effects of COVID-19 fear and anxiety on attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine use in women with gynecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(4): 377-384.
Humans ; Female ; COVID-19 ; Pandemics ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Anxiety/psychology* ; Attitude ; Neoplasms ; Fear ; Complementary Therapies/psychology*

Poland has a unique history of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) dating back to the 17th century when Polish missionary Michael (Michał) Boym was a pioneer in the field. In the 20th century, his successor, Professor Zbigniew Garnuszewski, reintroduced acupuncture to medical practice in Poland. However, other methods of TCM and its holistic approach to patient care have not found their place in modern medicine in Poland. At present, the legal status of TCM in Poland remains unregulated, with TCM included in the broad spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices. Few reports are available on the use of TCM methods among the Polish population. Integrative medicine combines conventional medicine with evidence-based CAM interventions and considers all aspects of a patient's health, including physical, emotional, mental, social, and environmental factors. An integrative healthcare model that incorporates TCM modalities and lifestyle recommendations as well as a whole person approach may provide a more sustainable solution for the constantly underfinanced Polish healthcare system, which faces challenges of multimorbidity in an aging society and limited access to care. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, war in Ukraine, and ongoing climate crisis have underscored the need to strengthen the resilience of the Polish healthcare system and search for new solutions. A model of care that blends the best of biomedicine and TCM healing approaches may be a better option for both patients and the healthcare system in Poland. Please cite this article as: Rybicka M, Zhao J, Piotrowicz K, Ptasnik S, Mitka K, Kocot-Kępska M, Hui KK. Promoting whole person health: Exploring the role of traditional Chinese medicine in Polish healthcare. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(6): 509-517.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Poland ; Holistic Health ; Complementary Therapies/psychology* ; Delivery of Health Care

OBJECTIVE: To explore the difference in rates and reasons for disclosure of either conventional or complementary medicine (CM) to healthcare practitioners between people living with sleep disorders (SDs) and those without SDs. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey (N = 2019 adults) that measured sociodemographic characteristics, health status, health service utilisation, health literacy and health communication (medicine disclosure) of a representative sample of Australians was conducted. Data from participants reporting an SD (n = 265) were compared to those not reporting an SD to assess measures of health communication and disclosure about medicine use. RESULTS: Overall, rates of medicine disclosure to both conventional and CM practitioners were high, in respondents with (70%) and without an SD (57%). Those reporting an SD had higher expectations of their conventional health practitioner's knowledge of CM, associated clinical decision-making skills, and approval of CM use, and held a higher degree of concern about drug interactions (P < 0.05). The main reasons cited for disclosing CM use to conventional health practitioners and conventional medicine use to CM practitioners were "I want them to fully understand my health status" and "I was concerned about drug interactions with the CMs used." CONCLUSION The high rate of medicine use disclosure by people with SDs is driven by an intention to inform their healthcare practitioner about their health status and concerns about potential medicine interactions. Therefore, research about the expectations that people with an SD have of their conventional healthcare practitioners' knowledge of CM and CM-drug interactions requires further examination. Likewise, further examination of CM practitioner's conventional medicine knowledge is encouraged.
Adult ; Australia ; Complementary Therapies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Disclosure ; Humans ; Sleep Wake Disorders/therapy*

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is becoming a popular complementary approach in pediatric oncology. However, few or no meta-analyses have focused on clinical studies of the use of TCM in pediatric oncology. OBJECTIVE: We explored the patterns of TCM use and its efficacy in children with cancer, using a systematic review, meta-analysis and data mining study. SEARCH STRATEGY: We conducted a search of five English (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ClinicalTrials.gov) and four Chinese databases (Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals Database) for clinical studies published before October 2021, using keywords related to "pediatric," "cancer," and "TCM." INCLUSION CRITERIA: We included studies which were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or observational clinical studies, focused on patients aged < 19 years old who had been diagnosed with cancer, and included at least one group of subjects receiving TCM treatment. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: The methodological quality of RCTs and observational studies was assessed using the six-item Jadad scale and the Effective Public Healthcare Panacea Project Quality Assessment Tool, respectively. Meta-analysis was used to evaluate the efficacy of combining TCM with chemotherapy. Study outcomes included the treatment response rate and occurrence of cancer-related symptoms. Association rule mining (ARM) was used to investigate the associations among medicinal herbs and patient symptoms. RESULTS: The 54 studies included in this analysis were comprised of RCTs (63.0%) and observational studies (37.0%). Most RCTs focused on hematological malignancies (41.2%). The study outcomes included chemotherapy-induced toxicities (76.5%), infection rate (35.3%), and response, survival or relapse rate (23.5%). The methodological quality of most of the RCTs (82.4%) and observational studies (80.0%) was rated as "moderate." In studies of leukemia patients, adding TCM to conventional treatment significantly improved the clinical response rate (odds ratio [OR] = 2.55; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.49-4.36), lowered infection rate (OR = 0.23; 95% CI = 0.13-0.40), and reduced nausea and vomiting (OR = 0.13; 95% CI = 0.08-0.23). ARM showed that Radix Astragali, the most commonly used medicinal herb (58.0%), was associated with treating myelosuppression, gastrointestinal complications, and infection. CONCLUSION There is growing evidence that TCM is an effective adjuvant therapy for children with cancer. We proposed a checklist to improve the quality of TCM trials in pediatric oncology. Future work will examine the use of ARM techniques on real-world data to evaluate the efficacy of medicinal herbs and drug-herb interactions in children receiving TCM as a part of integrated cancer therapy.
Adult ; Child ; China ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Complementary Therapies ; Data Mining ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Observational Studies as Topic ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: Some epidemic diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have caused many physical, psychological, and social challenges, despite the existence of treatment strategies. Many people are looking for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to prevent such diseases. The present study was performed to determine how some types of CAM were being used during the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran. METHODS: The present study had a cross-sectional descriptive correlational design. All Iranian residents above 17 years old were eligible to participate in the study. A total of 782 participants completed a demographic information questionnaire, a questionnaire about their use of CAMs and a questionnaire about their satisfaction with the CAMs they used. Web-based sampling was conducted from 20 April 2020 to 20 August 2020. RESULTS: Of the participants, 84% used at least one type of CAM during the COVID-19 outbreak. The most used CAMs were dietary supplements (61.3%), prayer (57.9%), and herbal medicines (48.8%). The majority of the participants (50%-66%) have used CAMs to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 or to reduce anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CAM use was associated with sex, having children, place of residence, COVID-19 status, and source of gathering information about CAM (P < 0.05). All 32 participants who had been infected with COVID-19 used at least one type of CAM for treatment or alleviation of the disease symptoms. CONCLUSION During the COVID-19 outbreak, some types of CAM, particularly nutritional supplements, medicinal herbs, and prayer, were commonly used to prevent COVID-19 and reduce pandemic-related anxiety.
Adolescent ; COVID-19 ; Child ; Complementary Therapies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Disease Outbreaks ; Humans ; Iran ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Surveys and Questionnaires

COVID-19 ; Complementary Therapies ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2