Public knowledge about traditional and complementary medicine

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 5, 861 - 867, 04.09.2019

Başak Bilir Kaya Melike Şahin

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.429651

Abstract

Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate public knowledge about traditional and
complementary medicine.

Methods: In a physical medicine
and rehabilitation hospital, questionnaires were administered to 534
volunteers. The questionnaires comprised of questions regarding demographic
data such as age, gender and educational level and 16 additional questions
about traditional and complementary medicine defitions. These definitions were
directly adopted from Ministry of Health Department of Traditional and Complementery
Medical Practices. The results were recorded and statistical analysis were carried
out.

Results: The volunteers were 44.6%
male and 55.4% female). Acupuncture definition was known to 57.7% volunteers;
this rate was 26.6% in phytotherapy, 32.2% in apitherapy, 43.4% in hypnosis,
15.2% in hirudotherapy, 28.7% in homeopathy, 11.9% in chiropractic, 32.2% in
cupping therapy, 40.4% in wet cupping therapy, 29% in maggot therapy, 27.3% in
mesotherapy, 18% in prolotherapy, 22.1% in osteopathy, 38.8% in ozone therapy,
40.6% in reflexology, 55.2% in music therapy. Women’s correct answers regarding
hypnosis, reflexology and music therapy were found to be statistically
significantly higher than men. Acupuncture and osteopathy definitions are
better known to 18-30 years old volunteers than volunteers that are older than
65 years of age. Apitherapy, homeopathy, cupping, wet cupping, maggot therapy,
mesotherapy, prolotherapy, ozon therapy, reflexology were less known by the
older population; as the age increased the correct answers for these therapies decreased.
In addition, correct answer ratio increased with the educational level, in
acupuncture, apitherapy, phytotherapy, hypnosis, chariopractic, cupping, wet
cupping, mesotherapy, ozone therapy and reflexology.

Conclusions: The traditional and
complementary therapies need to be explained to the public. Women are more
intersted in some therapies than men. Public knowledge about the definition of
most traditional and complementary therapies increases with educational level.
People with different demographic properties have different levels of awareness
regarding traditional and complementary therapies. For example while elder
people require more basic training about these methods in general, young and
highly educated women who already have some awareness about these methods can
go through more elaborate training programs which are designed to guide them to
benefit more from these therapies. 

Keywords

health literacy, acupuncture, cupping therapy, complementary health approaches, osteopathy

References

• [1] Turkey - Official Gazette. Number: 29187, Law No: 6569, 2014.
• [2] Bivins R. The needle and the lancet: acupuncture in Britain, 1683-2000. Acupunct Med 2001;19:2-14.
• [3] Mulholland S, Chang AB. Honey and lozenges for children with nonspecific cough. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009;(2):CD007523.
• [4] Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, Appel S, Wilkey S, Van Rompay M, et al. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA 1998;280:1569-75.
• [5] Izquierdo de Santiago A, Khan M. Hypnosis for schizophrenia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007;(4):CD004160.
• [6] Baskova IP, Kostrjukova ES, Vlasova MA. Proteins and peptides of the salivary gland secretion of medicinal leeches Hirudo verbana, H. medicinalis, and H. orientalis. Biochemistry Mosc 2008;73:315-20.
• [7] Sankaran P. Some hints on case taking In: Sankaran R, editor., ed. The Elements of Homeopathy. Mumbai, India: Homeopathic Medical Publishers; 1996:207-17.
• [8] Jamison JR, McEwen AP, Thomas SJ. Chiropractic adjustment in the management of visceral conditions: a critical appraisal. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1992;15:171-80.
• [9] Chirali IZ. Cupping therapy. In: Chirali, editor. Traditional Chinese Medicine E-Book. Churchill Livinstone, Elsevier: Philadelphia, 2007.
• [10] Pechter EA, Sherman RA. Maggot therapy: the surgical metamorphosis. Plast Reconstr Surg 1983;72:567-70.
• [11] Mammucari M, Gatti A, Maggiori S, Sabato AF. Role of mesotherapy in musculoskeletal pain: opinions from the Italian society of mesotherapy. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012;2012:436959.
• [12] Reeves KD, Hassanein K. Randomized prospective double-blind placebo-controlled study of dextrose prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis with or without ACL laxity. Altern Ther Health Med 2000;6:68-80.
• [13] Still AT. Autobiography of Andrew T. Still, with a history of the discovery and development of the science of osteopathy, together with an account of the founding of the American school of osteopathy. 1897. Available: http://archive.org/details/autobiographyand00stiliala
• [14] Bocci V. Biological and clinical effects of ozone. Has ozone therapy a future in medicine. Br J Biomed Sci 1999;56:270-9.
• [15] Kunz K., Kunz B. Understanding the science and art of reflexology. Altern Complement Ther 1995;1:183-6.
• [16] American Music Theraphy Association Definition of Music Therapy 2018 Available online: https://www.musictherapy.org/about/musictherapy/
• [17] The Lancet NCD Action Group and NDC Alliance. Priority actions for the non-communicabla disease crisis. Lancet 2011;377:1438-47.
• [18] Tindle HA, Davis RB, Phillips RS, Eisenberg DM. Trends in use of complementary and alternative medicine by US adults: 1997-2002. Altern Ther Health Med 2005;11:42-9.
• [19] Nutbeam D. Health promotion glossary. Health Promot Int 1998;13:349-64.
• [20] Sørensen K, Pelikan JM, Röthlin F, Ganahl K, Slonska Z, Doyle G, et al; HLS-EU Consortium. Health literacy in Europe: comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU). Eur J Public Health 2015;25:1053-8.
• [21] Gözüm S, Tezel A, Koc M. Complementary alternative treatments used by patients with cancer in eastern Turkey. Cancer Nurs 2003;26:230-6.
• [22] Akyol AD, Yildirim Y, Toker E, Yavuz B. The use of complementary and alternative medicine among chronic renal failure patients. J Clin Nurs 2011;20:1035-43.