Introduction

Complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) have supporters and detractors among medical staff.

Objective

To determine the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes toward CAT among health science university students.

Method

A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in the University of Basque Country (Spain) during 2013/2014 academic years. A representative sample of students completed an anonymous questionnaire on knowledge, perceptions and attitudes on the use of the CAT. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each item and discipline. The comparison between proportions was performed and 95% confidence intervals calculated.

Results

A total of 605 students completed the questionnaire (32.6% nursing; 32.2% medicine; 28.6% pharmacy, and 6.6% physiotherapy). The most known therapies among the students were homeopathy (25.3%) and acupuncture (12.6%). Both therapies were perceived as fairly or very effective by 32.7% and 44.1% of students, respectively. A higher proportion was observed among nursing and physiotherapy students with positive attitudes, compared to medicine and pharmacy students. More than one-quarter (27.4%) of students would recommend CAT to their patients as the first therapeutic choice in some diseases or circumstances. On the other hand, 27.1% felt that non-science-based therapies should be rejected in the clinical praxis. More than half (59.2%) stated the need for training on these therapies at university, and 67.9% felt that medical staff must have skills to educate and inform their patients.

Conclusions

There is lack of knowledge about CAT. Homeopathy and acupuncture are the best known therapies, but perceived effectiveness is unequal among students. Thus, nursing and physiotherapy students showed were more favourable to use CAT.