| dc.description.abstract | Thepopularityof complementaryandalternative
medicine(CAM) andits usehaveincreasedoverthe
previousdecades(Frasset a1.,2012). Theamountof
avliable literature regarding the use of CAM in
providingdifferenttypesofhealth careis increasing
(Bazarganetal.,2008;Rosenberg etal.,2008).
TheNationalCenterfor CAM (NCCAM, 200g)
definesCAM as "a group of diversemedical and
healthcaresystems, practices,andproductsthat are
not generally considered paft of conventional
medicine".The mostcommonlyinvestigatedCAM
modalities among university students were
biologically based modalities (which include
herbals)andmind-bodymedicinemodalities(which
includemeditation,spiritualities,hypnosisandyoga)
(Lohet a1.,2013).
Therehavebeena rising numberof studiesinvestigatingmedicalstudents'knowledgeandattitude
regardingCAM in recentyears.Two studiesfrom
SaudiArabia(Albadret a1.,2018;Alzahraniet al.,
2016)that assessedknowledgeand attituderegarding CAM among medical students,found gap in
knowledge,despitetheir positive attitude towards
the topic.Anotherstudyconductedat two universities in the United Statesreportedthat medicalstudentsreceivedthe leastamountof educationabout
CAM anddoubtedtheusefulnessof CAM the most,
amongall healthprofessionsstudents(Baugnietet
al.,2000).
Dataon knowledgeand attitudeof medicalstudents from developingcountriesabout CAM are
limited. ln Serbia,thereis still lack of data.Therefore, the aim of this study is to assessthe attitude
towardsCAM andits useamongmedicalstudentsat
the University of Pristina in KosovskaMitrovica.
TheMedicalFacultyof the Universityof pristinain
KosovskaMitrovica is oneof the five statemedical
facultiesin Serbia.Currently,CAM is not partof the
studycurriculum,sothe secondgoal of this studyis
to assessstudents'attifudetoward its inclusioninto
themedicalcurriculum.
Materialsand methods
This cross-sectional studyrecruitedmedicalstudentson 3'd,4th,5thand6,hyearof studyduringthe
academic2019-2020year.Thesestudygroupswere
chosenbecausetheyarein contactwith patientsthat
are interestedin the effectivenessof this kind of
treatment.The study was approvedby the Ethical
Committeeof theFacultvof Medicine.
* zorica. stanoj evic@med.pr.ac.rs22
Out of tolal 337 filled questionnaires, 45 were
excludedfromthestudybecauseof incompletedata.
The first part of the questionnaireassessedthe
socio-demographicharacteristicsof students(age,
gender,year of education).The secondpart of the
questionnaireassessed theuseof CAM, andthethird
partassessed theattitudetowardsCAM. Theattitude
was assessedusing 7 questionswith dichotomous
yesor no answers.
Proceduresof CAM examined in this study
were:acupuncture, massage, hypnosis,herbalmedicine, meditation,homeopathy,chiropractic,yoga,
reflexology,prayerandself-helpgroups.
Descriptivestatisticswereusedto analyzeinvestigatedparameters.
Resultsanddiscussion
Among the 292 studentswho completedthe
questionnaire, T4 (25%),64 (22%),91 (31%), and
63 (22%) were in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth
yearsof study,respectively.
The percentageof,students that currently use
CAM was 17.5o4, while33o/ohadneverusedCAM.
Massagetherapy (39%), herbal products (24%),
prayer(13.7%)and meditation(11.3%)weremost
commonusedprocedures of CAM. The mostcommon reasonsfor using CAM amongmedical students were improvementof generalhealth, exam
stressreliefandimprovementof concentration.
The mostpopularsourcesof informationabout
CAM wasinternet(74%).
Interestingly,despitethe fact that most of the
studentsbelievethatCAM couldbeusedto improve
generalhealthand alleviateor eliminatethe symptomsof thedisease, over50o/oof studentsareunsure
abouttheireffectiveness andsafety,
Majority of the students (75%) felt that
knowledgeaboutCAM could be beneficialto their
medicalpracticeandshouldbeincludedin themedicalcurriculum.
Conclusion
Our results showedmedical studentspositive
attitudeaboutCAM regardlessof their insufficient
knowledgeof this topic. A high percentageof studentsagreedthat CAM canbe usefulin theprevention and treatmentof various medical conditions.
Finally, the studentsshowedsignificantinterestfor
including of CAM conceptin the medicalcurriculum.
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