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Table 2 Attitude of healthcare professionals towards CAM

From: Iranian healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitudes, and use of complementary and alternative medicine: a cross sectional study

Items

Level of agreement

n (%)

Subscales

Mean (Standard deviation)

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Unsure

Agree

Strongly agree

Health believes/philosophical view

1. CAM is an important aspect of my own family’s health care

11 (5.3)

22 (10.6)

93 (44.9)

73 (35.3)

8 (3.9)

25.73 (3.47)

2. Both mind and body must be treated for the patient to regain complete health

3 (1.4)

4 (1.9)

14 (6.7)

114 (54.5)

74 (35.4)

3. Patients should have the right to choose between conventional treatments and CAM therapies in health care

5 (2.4)

19 (9.2)

30 (14.5)

127 (61.4)

26 (12.6)

4. Conventional health care services are too impersonal

5 (2.5)

43 (21.1)

79 (38.7)

62 (30.4)

15 (7.4)

5. People are afraid of examinations and treatments from conventional health care services

13 (6.3)

70 (33.8)

61 (29.5)

57 (27.5)

6 (2.9)

6. Conventional health care services do not meet people’s expectations

14 (6.8)

54 (26.3)

60 (29.3)

68 (33.2)

9 (4.4)

7. The changes that have taken place in the conventional health care system have encouraged people to use CAM methods to a greater extent

6 (2.9)

33 (16)

80 (38.8)

81 (39.3)

6 (2.9)

8. Patients with an untreatable condition should be encouraged to seek CAM therapies

6 (2.9)

27 (13.1)

76 (36.9)

72 (35)

25 (12.1)

Effect of CAM

9. Some forms of CAM therapies are as effective as conventional treatments

5 (2.4)

27 (13)

81 (39.1)

83 (40.1)

11 (5.3)

14.91 (2.01)

10. Surgical patients can be helped by using CAM therapies

7 (3.5)

19 (9.5)

87 (43.5)

77 (38.5)

10 (5)

11. Some forms of CAM therapies work better than conventional treatments

6 (2.9)

30 (14.6)

89 (43.2)

69 (33.5)

12 (5.8)

12. Positive effects of CAM therapies are in most cases due to placebo effect

7 (3.4)

27 (13.1)

120 (58.3)

50 (24.3)

2 (1)

13. CAM therapies could be used as a complement to the treatments used in conventional health care

4 (2)

25 (12.2)

53 (25.9)

100 (48.8)

23 (11.2)

Risk of CAM

14. Patients are not adequately informed about CAM therapies in the hospital

7 (3.4)

15 (7.2)

42 (20.2)

110 (52.9)

34 (16.3)

15.28 (2.34)

15. CAM therapies are completely safe

9 (4.3)

50 (24)

100 (48.1)

36 (17.3)

13 (6.3)

16. The use of CAM therapies may delay the patients’ decision to contact conventional health professionals

6 (2.9)

13 (6.3)

65 (31.4)

117 (56.5)

6 (2.9)

17. CAM therapies may involve unknown risk factors for users’ health

6 (2.9)

25 (12.3)

80 (39.2)

81 (39.7)

12 (5.9)

18. CAM therapies are offered just for financial gain by quack health careers

17 (8.2)

70 (33.8)

84 (40.6)

31 (15)

5 (2.4)