A pilot survey on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) amongst Diploma Pharmacy students in Malaysia

Introduction: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been widely used throughout the world. Nowadays, CAM still remains popular despite the presence of modem medicine even among students. Various treatment and alternative methods have been sought by students from other field and pharmacy students are the most searched people when it comes to medicine. The aim of this study is to understand the level of knowledge and attitude of Diploma Pharmacy students towards complementary and alternative medicine.

Method: Students from Diploma in Pharmacy semester one and semester three were grouped in two classes during their free times. The numbers of participants involved were 186 students and all of them participate. A questionnaire was distributed containing five sections: i.e. student's demographic characteristics, self use of CAM, knowledge on CAM, attitude on CAM and opinion on CAM education.

Result: Percentages of Diploma of Pharmacy students uses CAM at the time of survey are 70.4% from 186 students. The ratios of female to male students in Diploma of Pharmacy were 78% and 22% respectively. With 131 students that use CAM, 77.1% were female and 22.9% were male. For non-CAM user (n=55), 80% are female and the rest are male. Most common type of CAM used was Traditional Malay Medicine with 83.96% students voted based on their experience. Percentage of person using CAM was informed through family and friends were highest with 98% from 131 students. 60.3% of CAM user believed Traditional Malay Medicine is effective and 4.6% stated Complimentary medicine is harmful towards health. From CAM and non-CAM user, 61.8% and 70.9% agreed result of CAM are correlated to mental health, health beliefs and values.

Conclusions: The study concluded that more than half of students are currently using CAM as alternative or together with modem medicine. Therefore, it is important to insert CAM education in Diploma of Pharmacy curriculum as an effort to develop students with mass knowledge on alternative treatment and medicine together with modem medicine. Such education will greatly benefit students in the future of pharmacy field.