Abstract:

Objective: To evaluate the attitudes and approaches of nutrition and dietetics department students about complementary and alternative medical treatment (CAM) methods. Method: This study was carried out on 194 volunteer students studying in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Ondokuz Mayıs University. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 statistical software package and the categorical data was given as percentage. Result: Of the 194 students participating in the study 83% were women. The percentage of students who knew about CAM methods were 67.5% (n=131). 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%). Among methods, 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 over traditional treatment was 27.3% (n=53). Conclusion: The majority of students have knowledge about CAM methods, their level of knowledge is not very high, they mostly do not learn this information in undergraduate education. Often, students use these methods to improve their overall health. In addition, it is thought-provoking that students tend to CAM rather than modern medicine despite receiving health education. Considering that some CAM methods can affect nutrition and health, it is thought that it will be important to raise awareness of students studying in this field.

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