Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

In the last decade, the growing interest and use of alternative healing methods among practitioners and patients has been documented in many empirical studies. The present inquiry of n = 140 undergraduate medical students at the University of Düsseldorf reveals a continually increasing knowledge of methods, self-experience as patients or lay persons, and an interest in learning one or more techniques. The highest interest in acquiring a working knowledge of a method is for acupuncture (55.7%), homoeopathy (42.1%), autogenous training (24.9%), and reflex-zonetherapies (11.4%).

OBJECTIVE: To describe general practitioners' opinions and behaviour regarding alternative medicine. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of a random sample of Ontario and Alberta general practitioners. SETTING: General practices in Ontario and Alberta. PARTICIPANTS: A questionnaire was mailed to 400 general practitioners. Of the 384 eligible physicians, 200 completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported beliefs and practices concerning alternative medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the referral practices, perceived usefulness, knowledge, prior training and desire for training of general practitioners (GPs) in Quebec with regard to complementary health care services such as acupuncture, chiropractic and hypnosis. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mail survey. SETTING: Province of Quebec. PARTICIPANTS: Random sample of 200 GPs. Of the 146 who responded, 25 were excluded because they were no longer in practice; this left 121 (83%).

A survey was taken of graduates of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics' (SDBP) Pediatric Hypnosis Course to describe the impact of the course on participants' practical knowledge of self-regulation and hypnosis, the acquisition through direct experience of a realistic understanding of hypnosis, their estimation of the value of the course to their practice of pediatrics, their use of techniques learned, what they would communicate to peers in pediatrics about training in this area, and their beliefs concerning barriers to professional interest in learning hypnot

OBJECTIVE: To assess (1) pediatricians' attitudes toward and practice of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for their patients; (2) their knowledge, experience, and referral patterns for selected CAM therapies; and (3) their desire for continuing medical education courses on CAM therapies. METHOD: An anonymous, self-report, 25-item questionnaire was mailed to fellows of the Michigan chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Nursing education has long been holistic in its approach to aiding the client or family. Further, most nurses, especially school nurses, are holistic by nature. That is, school nurses see a person as a whole being, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. The more conscious nurses become of their holistic nature and the more they expand their knowledge and skills in holistic methods, the more they can assist students and families in having greater control over their health.

AIMS: To investigate current public knowledge and attitudes to tobacco smoking and smoking cessation treatments. METHOD: A telephone survey of 250 individuals randomly selected from the Christchurch Electoral Roll and assigned into one of three groups: current, ex and life-time never smokers. RESULTS: Significantly more current than ex-smokers cited habit as a major reason for continuing to smoke and a greater number reported using nicotine transdermal patches during a cessation attempt.