Knowledge, attitude and practices of complementary and alternative medicine among healthcare profession students in UAE

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to practices that do not follow the principles of conventional medicine. A cross-sectional study was conducted among students of Gulf Medical University, Ajman. The questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section was regarding sociodemographic characteristics and the second section measured knowledge on CAM. The third section assessed attitude and the last section was regarding utilization of CAM. 330 participants took part in the survey out of which 45.8% had high CAM knowledge with Yoga, massage therapy, and herbal medicine being most known. 37.2% of respondents disagreed that their course provided them with enough information on CAM. Majority of the participants were not aware of CAM use for COVID-19 management. 79.4% of respondents had a neutral attitude. A little over half of the participants agreed on inclusion of CAM in medical school curricula. 65.8% of participants did not use CAM. Herbal medicine was the most used CAM modality. Only 28.5% used CAM as immunity booster for COVID-19 prevention. Nationality, college and CAM usage were predictors of low level of knowledge. Results from the study indicated high level of knowledge among students of GMU especially those from College of Medicine. Awareness regarding use of CAM for COVID-19 was low. 79.4% of participants had neutral attitude towards CAM. 65.8% of participants did not use CAM. Nationality, college and CAM usage were predictors of low level of knowledge.