The impact of socio-economic characteristics on Sudanese women’s use of complementary and alternative medicine for self-management of infertility

Abstract

Background Although Sudanese women have rich experience in the use of complementary and alternative medicine for self-management of infertility, but still literature discussing this issue is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap by examining the association of socioeconomic characteristics of Sudanese women with, as well as their predictability of, use of complementary and alternative medicine for self-management of infertility. Methods This was a cross-sectional study involving 203 infertile women attending infertility clinics in Khartoum State, Sudan. The interviewers administered questionnaire comprised two parts: the first sought to collect data on self-management strategies of infertility, and the second sought to collect personal data of the respondents. Association between socioeconomic characteristics and use of self-management strategies for treatment of infertility were assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while determinants of that usage were assessed using simple linear regression. Results Age of the majority of respondents clustered at the two middle groups (28–37 and 38–47). Few of the respondents had education less than primary (3.0%), while those with higher education representing almost half of the sample (49.8%). ANOVA showed that while only education level was independently associated with the factors that influence Sudanese women’s selection of infertility self-management strategies (p = 0.008 and p = 0.030), all socioeconomic characteristics were associated with the types of strategies Sudanese women use for self-management of their infertility. Simple linear regression results showed that all socioeconomic factors had predictive power (p < 0.05) when correlated with Sudanese women perceptions about strategies used for self-management of infertility. Conclusions Socioeconomic factors that potentially impact Sudanese women’s strategies used in self-management of infertility were identified. Results highlighted the association of Sudanese women’s strategies used in self-management of infertility with socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents. The study offered policymakers with information to re-examine the loose or relax rules governing the complementary and alternative medicine use in the societies of developing countries in general and Sudan in specific, as the culture of these societies seems to encourage the usage of self-management strategies.