Pharmacy and Osteopathic Students' Perceptions of Alternative Therapies
Fellow and Instructor Katie M. Graham Pharm.D.Professor Lon N. Larson Ph.D.
pages: 53 - 66
- DOI: 10.1300/J060v06n03_06
- Version of record first published: 11May1998
Abstract:
Alternative or complementary medicine includes over a hundred therapies generally not taught or well documented in the United States. These alternative practices can be used in place of, or in concert with, conventional Western therapies. The popularity of alternative forms of health care continues to rise, and coverage of them in the lay literature increases. Given patient acceptance of alternative therapies, Western medical practitioners may be more effective if they are knowledgeable of these therapies and are able to address patients' questions, concerns, and beliefs. In this study, pharmacy and osteopathic students were surveyed as to their self-assessed knowledge and perceived usefulness of 20 therapies. In general, widespread knowledge about the therapies in either profession was not common. Students appeared somewhat uncertain about usefulness, rating the therapies as neither useful nor useless. The professions differed in their knowledge and perceived usefulness of biofeedback and holistic medicine, both of which were known and viewed favorably by more osteopathy than pharmacy students. Overall, increased knowledge of a therapy was positively associated with a favorable assessment of usefulness.