Nursing Students’ Attitudes About Complementary and Alternative Medicine Methods: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to determine nursing students’ attitudes towards complementary and alternative treatment methods Material and methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in the health sciences faculty of a university between February-March 2018. The sample consisted of first and fourth year students of nursing (n:197). The “Descriptive Information Form” and Holistic Complementary and Alternative Medicine Questionnaire (HCAMQ) were used to collect the data. Results: In data analysis, descriptive statistics, student's t test and chi-square test were used. The mean scores the first and fourth year nursing students obtained from the overall HCAMQ were 32.69 ± 5.42 and 30.82 ± 5.84 respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the first and fourth year nursing students in terms of the mean scores they obtained from the HCAMQ (p< 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the first and fourth year students in terms of their mean scores for the CAM and HBB sub-dimensions (p>0.05). Conclusions: The results of the study demonstrated that the participating nursing students displayed positive attitudes towards the methods of complementary and alternative medicine at a moderate level. Their being knowledgeable about CAM methods is important. In order for nurses to be primarily responsible for patient care and to provide care holistically, their being knowledgeable about CAM methods, and informing their patients about the CAM. Therefore, we recommended that the undergraduate nursing curriculum should also include information about CAM, and students should be provided with educational opportunities about different methods.