Mansoor Kenza, Mallah Eyad, Abuqatouseh Luay, Darwish Dana, Abdelmalek Suzanne, Yasin Mohammad, Abu-Itham Jiana, Al-Khayat Ali, Matalka Khalid, Qadan Fadi, Schmidt Mathias
Department of Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan.
Department of Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2025 May;17(5):102297. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2025.102297. Epub 2025 Jan 30.
The present study aimed to evaluate pharmacy students' awareness of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) to highlight the strengths and weaknesses that need improving in the pharmacy curriculum regarding CAM.
A questionnaire-based study, conducted at the University of Petra (UOP), Jordan, that compared the knowledge and attitudes towards CAM of pharmacy students with those of non-pharmacy non-health-related students.
A CAM questionnaire was issued to 1230 students, and 1132 completed responses were received. Overall, over two-thirds of students (70 %) were aware of the existence of CAM. As expected, this awareness was higher among pharmacy students than non-pharmacy students (73 % vs. 65 %, p < 0.001) and increased with junior year. Compared to pharmacy students, other faculty students believed CAM is more effective than conventional medicine (CT). Furthermore, pharmacy students' belief that CAM is more effective than CT showed a steady decline within the 5-year study period (33-39 % vs.16-17 %, p < 0.0001). However, the most common reason for believing in CAM among pharmacy students (45 %) was their belief that CAM has fewer side effects compared to 35 % of non-pharmacy students. Of those pharmacy students who did not believe in CAM, almost half stated that there was no scientific evidence of CAM use. Surprisingly, only 16 % of pharmacy students indicated that their CAM source of information was from classes or attended courses during their study versus 69 % from the Internet. Furthermore, the medicinal applications most frequently thought by students to be treatable by CAM were gastrointestinal disorders (56 %) and diseases of the respiratory tract (51 %), whereas the slightest thought to be treated by CAM were endocrine disorders (2 %).
Although pharmacy students' CAM awareness and knowledge are enhanced as they advance in the curriculum, the conceptions that CAM could substitute conventional therapies and that CAM is more effective than conventional therapy are inversely associated with advancement in the curriculum. This latter reversal adjustment suggests the strength of the current curriculum towards conventional therapy. It underscores the need to correct the misconception of CAM by enhancing the awareness of well-researched herbal medicinal preparations. Therefore, the integration of evidence-based phytotherapy courses into the pharmacy curriculum is crucial to fostering a balanced awareness and trust in CAM.
本研究旨在评估药学专业学生对补充替代医学（CAM）的认知，以突出药学课程在CAM方面需要改进的优势和不足。
在约旦佩特拉大学（UOP）开展了一项基于问卷调查的研究，比较了药学专业学生与非药学非健康相关专业学生对CAM的知识和态度。
向1230名学生发放了CAM问卷，共收到1132份有效回复。总体而言，超过三分之二的学生（70%）知晓CAM的存在。不出所料，药学专业学生的知晓率高于非药学专业学生（73%对65%，p<0.001），且随着年级升高而增加。与药学专业学生相比，其他专业的学生认为CAM比传统医学（CT）更有效。此外，在为期5年的研究期间，药学专业学生认为CAM比CT更有效的比例呈稳步下降趋势（33%-39%对16%-17%，p<0.0001）。然而，药学专业学生相信CAM的最常见原因（45%）是他们认为CAM的副作用比非药学专业学生中的35%更少。在那些不相信CAM的药学专业学生中，近一半表示没有CAM使用的科学证据。令人惊讶的是，只有16%的药学专业学生表示他们获取CAM信息的来源是课程学习或参加的课程，而69%来自互联网。此外，学生们认为最常能用CAM治疗的医学应用是胃肠道疾病（56%）和呼吸道疾病（51%），而认为最不能用CAM治疗的是内分泌疾病（2%）。
尽管随着课程推进，药学专业学生对CAM的认知和知识有所增强，但认为CAM可以替代传统疗法以及CAM比传统疗法更有效的观念与课程进展呈负相关。后一种观念的转变表明当前课程对传统疗法的重视。这凸显了通过提高对经过充分研究的草药制剂的认识来纠正对CAM误解的必要性。因此，将循证植物疗法课程纳入药学课程对于培养对CAM的平衡认知和信任至关重要。
