Atitudes de pacientes ginecológicos em medicina alternativa e complementar: Experiência em uma clínica terciária

Objective To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding complementary and alternative medicine methods of patients who were admitted to gynecology outpatient clinics. Methods In the present survey, a questionnaire on complementary and alternative medicine practices was applied on 1,000 women (ages between 18 and 83 years old) who were admitted to the gynecology outpatient clinic of a tertiarymaternity hospital. Demographic features and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about these methods were inquired in face-to-face interviews. Results While 80.7% of the total participants thought that complementary and alternative medicine was beneficial, only 37.5% of them had used these methods previously. The rate of prior knowledge on this subject was of 59.7% and the source of information was physicians for 8.5% of the patients. However, 72.4% of all participants wanted to obtain information on these methods and 93.7% wanted to be informed by physicians. In the decision tree model, having knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine was the most effective factor determining its use (p