Abstract
Objective:
To compare the attitudes about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) of medical students from two different medical schools and at different stages of their medical training (first and third years).
Design:
Four-group, cross-sectional, self-administered survey study.
Settings and Subjects:
Three hundred and eleven (311) students from two British medical schools(Newcastle and London).
Outcome measures:
Self-reported knowledge of, attitudes about, and beliefs about CAM.
Results:
Third-year students thought CAM overall was less effective than first-year students and also were significantly less interested in training in CAM techniques. The 43 attitude statements factored into six interpretable factors. A medical school × year ANOVA on the factor scores showed many results consistent with the first part of the study. First-year students seemed more eager to be taught CAM than third-year students, and students at Newcastle were more positive about CAM than those at University College London.
Conclusions:
Education at medical school does influence attitudes to CAM. As their orthodox medical training proceeds, medical students seem to increase their skepticism about CAM.
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