A Study on Community Health Practitioners' Knowledge of, Usee Patterns of, and Attitudes toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM)

보건진료원의 보완대체요법에 대한 지식정도, 사용경험, 태도에 관한 연구

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate community health practitioners' knowledge of, use patterns of, and attitudes toward CAM. Method: The subjects of this study were 817 community health practitioners (CHPs) from 9 Provinces in Korea selected through convenient sampling. They completed and submitted self-report questionnaires at the annual meeting of CHPs or sent completed questionnaires to us by mail. Result: Of the CHPs, 8.1% had a certificate of CAM-related education program, and 39.9% worried about the efficacy of CAM. They knew about massage (74.0%), finger pressure (68.1%), hand acupuncture (67.8%), diet (65.5%) and herb (64.7%). They had used herb (43.3%), massage (36.8%), hand acupuncture (32.7%) and vacuum (31.2%) with positive effects and recommended residents to use them. Attitude toward CAM tended to be positive in those with certificates of CAM, those with high academic qualification, those aged 40 or below, and those working in Chungcheong-do. Conclusion: This study showed that CHPs were interested in CAM while they worried about the therapeutic effects of it. Further studies to draw cross-sectional and national data on the use patterns of CAM from the various population and standardized instruments to investigate the types of CAM were suggested.