dc.contributor.author | Irungu, Muthukia D | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-05-25T07:52:21Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-05-25T07:52:21Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007-06 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Degree of Master of Medicine in Psychiatry of the University of Nairobi | en |
dc.identifier.uri | http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/11295/25589 | |
dc.description | A dissertation submitted in part
fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Master of Medicine
in Psychiatry of the University of Nairobi | en |
dc.description.abstract | Alternative medicine includes systems, modalities and practices which are used to treat or
prevent diseases which are outside the modes and methods of treatment practiced by the
dominant health care system of a society at a particular period. The boundaries between
these modes and conventional medicine are not always clear and there is considerable
overlap between various modes and methods. Over ~ past few years there has been a
worldwide trend towards increased use of alternative therapies.
Design: a descriptive cross sectional study.
Objective: to determine the patterns and prevalence of use of alternative therapies
amongst out patients in Mathari hospital, the reasons for use of the therapy and the
relationship between the use of alternative therapy and social demographic features of the
population ..
Setting: Mathari hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
Method: One hundred and sixty four outpatient clinic attendants were selected by
stratified random sampling. Informed consent was sought for participation in the study. A
social demographic questionnaire and a health seeking behaviour questionnaire were then
administered.
Data analysis. The data was stored in computer media. Data analysis was done with
SPSSVersion 12.
Results: Out of the one hundred and sixty four patients interviewed for the study
104(63.4%) had used alternative therapy. Of the therapies used faith healing was the most
common having been used by 88 subjects (53.8%) followed by herbal products which
had been used by 61 subjects (37.7%) and traditional ritualistic methods had been used
by 19 (11.6%) of the subjects. The commonest provider of alternative therapy was the
pastor who was consulted by 63(37.8%) of the respondents .The faith healer and the
herbalist were consulted by 31(19.0%) and 39(23.8%) respectively whereas the
traditional healer was consulted by 19(11.9% ).Subjects who reported side effects to
conventional medicine tended to use CAM more p=.02 but there was no relationship
between CAM use and any other social demographic or clinical characteristics.
Conclusions and recommendations: The prevalence of CAM use among the
outpatients in Mathari was found to be similar to that found in other studies done mostly
in the west. This finding suggests that CAM use is a universal phenomenon cutting across
social, economic and cultural differences within the population and between populations.
It is thus recommended that considering the high level of CAM use, the CAM
practitioners' role in patient management should be more recognised and efforts should
be made to improve the cooperation between the MMP and CAM practitioner for the
benefit of the patients. | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | University of Nairobi | en |
dc.title | Prevalence and patterns of use of alternative therapies amongst outpatient clinic attendants in Mathari Hospital | en |
dc.type | Thesis | en |
dc.description.department | a
Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, ; bDepartment of Mental Health, School of Medicine,
Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya | |
local.publisher | Department of Psychiatry | en |