A Survey of Medical Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Urmia, Iran

Personal beliefs of medical students may interfere with their tendency for learning Complementary and Alternative Medicine
concepts. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of medical students toward complementary and alternative
medicine in Urmia, Iran. A structured questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. One hundred questionnaires were
returned. Thirty-one percent of students reported use of alternative medicine for at least once. Iranian Traditional Medicine was
the main type of alternative medicine used by medical students (93.5%). Neuromuscular disorders were the main indication of
alternative medicine use among students (34.4%). Ninety percent of participants demonstrated competent knowledge about
acupuncture while the lowest scores belonged to homeopathy (12%). Study results showed that 49% of medical students had
positive attitudes and demonstrated a willingness to receive training on the subject. Thus, there appears a necessity to integrate
complementary and alternative medicine into the medical curriculum, by taking expectations and feedbacks of medical students
into consideration.