出版社：International Medical Journal Management and Indexing System
摘要：Objectives: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of non-medicinal alternative therapy in general population of Ahmedabad. Materials and Methods: A pretested KAP questionnaire comprising of 27 questions (knowledge 9, attitude 9, and practice 9) was administered to 300 general populations. The questionnaires were assessed for the type of responses regarding KAP of non-medicinal alternative therapy. Microsoft Excel worksheet (Microsoft Office 2007) and Chi-Square test were used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 230 (76.66%) out of 300 peoples completed the questionnaire. Mean age was 40.13 ± 15.60 (mean + SD) years and male: female ratio is 1.25:1. Almost 85.22 % of people were aware of the non-medicinal alternative therapy through their relatives/friends (46.96%), newspaper (39.56%), television (36.12%) and internet (24.35%). Most people respond that these alternative therapies are mostly available in private setup than government hospitals. Around 74.35 % of people believed in non-medicinal therapy. Majority of people believed that alternative therapy build up body defence mechanism and balance the body systems. Almost 50.87% of people opined that alternative therapy better than allopathy in treating certain cases; because of cost effectiveness and it carries fewer side effects. Less than one-third (29.13%) has used non-medicinal alternative therapies on themselves mostly for stress disorders and depression.Conclusion: Knowledge and attitude towards the use of non-medicinal alternative therapies are good enough. However, practice of these among the people should be improved by integration of these alternative therapies with conventional therapy through some intervention.
关键词：Alternative therapy; general population; KAP; non-medicinal
