Attitudes of Infertile Women Towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine Methods

Abstract

Objective: To determine the complementary and alternative medicine practices used by infertile women and to evaluate their attitudes towards these practices. Material-Method: This descriptive study was carried out between February-May 2022 with 94 infertile women reached by snowball sampling on the online platform. In the collection of data, the “Questionnaire on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Methods” and the Complementary, Alternative and Conventional Medicine Attitude Scale has been used. Results: The mean age of the women participating in the study was 34.48±7.66 years. It was determined that the participants got an average of 109.69±18.81 points from the Complementary, Alternative and Conventional Medicine Attitude Scale. After the diagnosis of infertility, 60.4% of women used any complementary and alternative medicine methods, and among these methods, onion cure (30.2%) as a nutritional supplement, applying honey directly into the vagina (46.4%), going to spas (50.0%), and praying and worshiping (74.7%) were preferred. Conclusion: It was determined that majority of the infertile women use any complementary and alternative medicine method, and their attitudes towards traditional and complementary medicine are moderate level. It is recommended to carry out experimental and evidence-based studies with larger samples in order to determine the benefit/harm status of the applications.