Assessment of the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Pediatrics from Palestine.

Supervisor:

Dr. Samah Al-Jabi

Abstract :

Background: Recently complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is increasing in children worldwide so there was a necessity to assess the use of CAM among pediatric in Palestine.

Purpose: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CAM use among a sample of Palestinian children, to investigate the factors affect the use of CAM, to identify the types of CAM that are used and to assess the purposes of using them.

Design:A cross-sectional descriptive study of parents who had children aged 6 years and below.

Method: A convenient sample of about 420 participants was collected during the period fromJune 2015 to January 2016; from Primary care for Motherhood and Childhood Centers in Nablus city in Palestine. Parents who agreed to participate were asked to answer a survey that consists mainly of closed-ended questions. Analysis was performed using SPSS version 16.0.

Results: The use of CAM were detected in all the interviewers 420 (100%). Most common treatment used was herbal therapy 400 (95.2%) and anise is the most common herbal therapy used 334 (79.5%). A  total  of  371 (88.3%)  of  respondent  used  CAM  for   digestive  system  problems . The main reason for using CAM was making the child more comfortable 365 (86.9%). About 385 (91.5%) of interviewers found that CAM was useful and 369 (87.9%) believed that CAM had no complications or side effects. Relative and friends (290, 69%) account for the most common source of information.

Conclusion: Considering the fact that all parents used CAM and physicians were not mainly among the source of CAM information, and nearly all parents were unaware of the side effects of CAM. It is recommended that physicians should learn about the CAM to enable them for providing information to parents regarding CAM benefits and disadvantages. It is also highly recommended to enhance community knowledge about the proper use of different kinds of CAM, also pharmacists and clinical pharmacists has a rule in awareness, because of increasing the possibility of interactions with conventional drugs