Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities among patients with cancer in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2021 to December 2021. Five hundred patients with cancer were invited t...
Published in: | Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2023
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:539093751b364fefaff7354940a8dc87 2023-11-12T04:13:59+01:00 Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan Shahlla Imam Muneeba Aijaz Wajiha Iffat Shazia Qasim Jamshed Nahlah Elkudssiah Ismail Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam Khang Wen Goh Long Chiau Ming Halima Sadia Iqbal Azhar 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.386075 https://doaj.org/article/539093751b364fefaff7354940a8dc87 EN eng Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications http://www.apjtm.org/article.asp?issn=1995-7645;year=2023;volume=16;issue=9;spage=400;epage=408;aulast=Imam https://doaj.org/toc/2352-4146 2352-4146 doi:10.4103/1995-7645.386075 https://doaj.org/article/539093751b364fefaff7354940a8dc87 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 16, Iss 9, Pp 400-408 (2023) alternative medicine cancer patients complementary medicine cross-sectional study Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.386075 2023-10-29T00:38:43Z Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities among patients with cancer in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2021 to December 2021. Five hundred patients with cancer were invited to participate in the study. Electronic databases, namely, Google scholar, Publons, EMBASE, PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, and ResearchGate was used for questionnaire designed. The self-administered survey included questions on demographic characteristics, education level, socio-economic conditions and information about CAM therapies, prevalence, effectiveness, and common CAM modalities. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 22. Results: Out of the 500 invited patients, 433 (86.6%) successfully completed and returned the questionnaires. In contrast to patients who were with younger, highly educated, professionally active, higher income, and had advanced cancer, time since diagnosis, type of treatment, cancer types and family history are significantly associated with CAM use. The results showed that 59.8% of the participants were acquainted with complementary and/or alternative medicine and considered safe owing to its natural ingredients. The prevalence of CAM usage among cancer patients was 40.9% and the most widely used CAM modality was herbal medicine (27.7%) and dietary supplements (28.8%). Patients used CAM as a complementary therapy to improve the morphological parameter (28.2%), strengthen the immune system (6.8%), and to decrease the side effects of conventional treatment (18.1%). Most of the respondents get the information regarding CAM therapy from the electronic media (43.2%) and the family members (48%) rather than healthcare personnel. Conclusions: Participants used CAM modalities along with the conventional health care practices. Further multicentre studies should be conducted to provide information regarding the usage of CAM therapies and their ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine 16 9 400 408 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
alternative medicine cancer patients complementary medicine cross-sectional study Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
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alternative medicine cancer patients complementary medicine cross-sectional study Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Shahlla Imam Muneeba Aijaz Wajiha Iffat Shazia Qasim Jamshed Nahlah Elkudssiah Ismail Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam Khang Wen Goh Long Chiau Ming Halima Sadia Iqbal Azhar Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
topic_facet |
alternative medicine cancer patients complementary medicine cross-sectional study Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities among patients with cancer in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2021 to December 2021. Five hundred patients with cancer were invited to participate in the study. Electronic databases, namely, Google scholar, Publons, EMBASE, PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, and ResearchGate was used for questionnaire designed. The self-administered survey included questions on demographic characteristics, education level, socio-economic conditions and information about CAM therapies, prevalence, effectiveness, and common CAM modalities. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 22. Results: Out of the 500 invited patients, 433 (86.6%) successfully completed and returned the questionnaires. In contrast to patients who were with younger, highly educated, professionally active, higher income, and had advanced cancer, time since diagnosis, type of treatment, cancer types and family history are significantly associated with CAM use. The results showed that 59.8% of the participants were acquainted with complementary and/or alternative medicine and considered safe owing to its natural ingredients. The prevalence of CAM usage among cancer patients was 40.9% and the most widely used CAM modality was herbal medicine (27.7%) and dietary supplements (28.8%). Patients used CAM as a complementary therapy to improve the morphological parameter (28.2%), strengthen the immune system (6.8%), and to decrease the side effects of conventional treatment (18.1%). Most of the respondents get the information regarding CAM therapy from the electronic media (43.2%) and the family members (48%) rather than healthcare personnel. Conclusions: Participants used CAM modalities along with the conventional health care practices. Further multicentre studies should be conducted to provide information regarding the usage of CAM therapies and their ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shahlla Imam Muneeba Aijaz Wajiha Iffat Shazia Qasim Jamshed Nahlah Elkudssiah Ismail Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam Khang Wen Goh Long Chiau Ming Halima Sadia Iqbal Azhar |
author_facet |
Shahlla Imam Muneeba Aijaz Wajiha Iffat Shazia Qasim Jamshed Nahlah Elkudssiah Ismail Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam Khang Wen Goh Long Chiau Ming Halima Sadia Iqbal Azhar |
author_sort |
Shahlla Imam |
title |
Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
title_short |
Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
title_full |
Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
title_fullStr |
Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
title_full_unstemmed |
Attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: An exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in Karachi, Pakistan |
title_sort |
attitudes and understanding of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer care: an exploratory study of patients’ perspectives in karachi, pakistan |
publisher |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.386075 https://doaj.org/article/539093751b364fefaff7354940a8dc87 |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 16, Iss 9, Pp 400-408 (2023) |
op_relation |
http://www.apjtm.org/article.asp?issn=1995-7645;year=2023;volume=16;issue=9;spage=400;epage=408;aulast=Imam https://doaj.org/toc/2352-4146 2352-4146 doi:10.4103/1995-7645.386075 https://doaj.org/article/539093751b364fefaff7354940a8dc87 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.386075 |
container_title |
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
400 |
op_container_end_page |
408 |
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1782331744747257856 |