Research Information System
Balıkesir Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi (BSBD), vol.10, no.1, pp.21-28, 2021 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Objective: To evaluate the attitudes and approaches of nutrition and dietetics department students about complementaryand alternative medical treatment (CAM) methods. Material and Methods: This study was carried out on 194 volunteer students studying in the Department of Nutrition andDietetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Ondokuz Mayıs University. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0statistical software package and the categorical data was given as percentage. Results: Of the 194 students participating in the study 83% were women. The percentage of students who knew aboutCAM methods were 67.5%. It was determined that sources recommending CAM were mainly nurse-midwife (37.6%),neighbors, and relatives (28.4%), and the most common reasons for using CAM were for general health (46.9%). Amongmethods, most commonly used were exercise (72.7%), praying (68.6%), plants/herbal medicine use (55.7%), daydreaming(48.5%), vitamin/diet supplement (42.8%) and music therapy (33.5%). The percentage of students who preferred CAM overtraditional treatment was 27.3%. Conclusion: The majority of students have knowledge about CAM methods, their level of knowledge is not very high, theymostly do not learn this information in undergraduate education. Often, students use these methods to improve their overallhealth. In addition, it is thought-provoking that students tend to CAM rather than modern medicine despite receiving healtheducation. Considering that some CAM methods can affect nutrition and health, it is thought that it will be important toraise awareness of students studying in this field.