Attitude of Clinical Medical Students and Residents of Guilan University of Medical Sciences about Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Studies that have been carried out in Iran suggest widespread use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the general population. This study was conducted to assess the attitude of clinical medical students and residents to CAM. It is expected that the relevant authorities plan appropriate training in complementary medicine subject.

The study was conducted in autumn 2013. 228 undergraduate and postgraduate students (residents) of Guilan University of Medical Sciences participated. To assess the knowledge and attitude of the medical students and residents، a translated CAIMAQ questionnaire was used. validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed content validity and cronbach''s alpho (0/851) respectively. To describe and analysis the data، we used descriptive statistics and factor analysis، respectively.

77. 2 % of the participants were extern or intern and others were resident. 70% of participants were male. 94. 6 % of participants believed that mental health has a great impact on the improvement of the disease. Factor analysis of data showed that the five factors explained 48. 09 % of the variance of the participants'' opinions. 97. 4 % of respondents have a positive attitude to progressive patient-physician health care role. The 55. 3% and 64% participants had a positive attitude to complementary medicine and relaxation techniques، respectively.

This study showed that participants '' attitude to CAM are low to moderate thus continuing education are necessary to improve attitude of medical students about complementary medicine.