Family medicine physicians' perception and attitudes of herbal substances use in greater Lisbon region.
Phytomedicine
; 47: 1-11, 2018 Aug 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30166093
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Previous works showed patients preference for herbal substances (HS) although they also highlighted a discrepancy with physicians' adherence to HS and its recommendation. HYPOTHESIS/PURPOSE:
This study aimed to assess physician's perception and attitudes concerning the use of HS for their patients in a Family Medicine approach. STUDYDESIGN:
Observational cross-sectional exploratory study.METHODS:
A questionnaire survey was applied to National Health System physicians; 113 questionnaires were distributed in the Greater Lisbon region.RESULTS:
80 valid questionnaires were received. The age of participants ranges from 29 to 64 with mean age of M⯱â¯SD51.9⯱â¯10.0 years, mostly women (71.4%). Of these, 61.5% were unaware of traditional herbal medicinal products' (THMP) legal recognition and 67.3% of the difference between THMP and well-established use medicines. Absence of accordance between use and knowledge of herbal medicines (HM)/herbal products (HP) (pâ¯=â¯0.025) can be related to lack of Phytotherapy knowledge perception based on the nonexistence of specific training reported by 94.0% of physicians. Through factor analysis, three dimensions were obtained Factor1, ``Use''; Factor2, ``Autonomy''; Factor3 ``Effort''. The overall Cronbach's α was 0.77, and 0.82 for Factor1. The evidence of use/prescription, has a correlation with ``Use'' (pâ¯<â¯0.0001), willingness to prescribe (pâ¯<â¯0.0001) and self-medication (pâ¯<â¯0.0001). There is a correlation (râ¯=â¯0.605, pâ¯<â¯0.0001) between HS recommendation and self-medication. There were differences in use, perception and attitudes among Personalized-Health-Care Units and Family-Health Units physicians in relation to Factor1 pâ¯=â¯0.007 and Factor2 pâ¯=â¯0.021, age (pâ¯=â¯0.001), years of Medical career (pâ¯=â¯0.002), HM use (pâ¯=â¯0.014) and information about alternatives (pâ¯=â¯0.03). Physicians who answered correctly to the question on silymarin had higher scores in factor1 than those who did not 1.76 vs. 1.25 (pâ¯=â¯0.019).CONCLUSION:
Low adherence to HS and little use of HM/HP were confirmed, highlighting the need for specific knowledge in Phytotherapy and its regulatory framework. This knowledge will enable the evaluation of herb-drug interactions and HM/HP adverse effects by the physicians thus justifying the integration of programmatic contents about HS in Medical Education.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Médicos de Família
/
Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde
/
Fitoterapia
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phytomedicine
Assunto da revista:
TERAPIAS COMPLEMENTARES
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article