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Introduction Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, used singularly or in combination with more conventional therapies, are routinely used by citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for medical care or seeking wellness. However, the prevalence of CAM therapies among Saudi psychiatric patients is not yet documented. To better understand the importance of CAM in today's medical field, particularly within the KSA and for psychiatric patients, this descriptive study aims to characterize the use of CAM therapies by a sample of psychiatric patients in the KSA. Methods This cross-sectional hospital-based study describes the use of CAM therapies by Saudi psychiatric patients being treated at one of the largest government hospitals in the KSA. Using a pretested questionnaire, adult psychiatric patients waiting for their appointment or during their stay at a government hospital in Riyadh were interviewed regarding the use of CAM therapies after agreeing to participate. Results Forty-five adult psychiatric patients agreed to participate in this study. The average age of the participants in the study was 35. Of the participants, 62% were females, 91.1% were outpatients, and 44.4% were diagnosed with depression. Moreover, 82.2% of the participants reported using one or more types of CAM therapies within the past year to address mental illness. Of those who used CAM therapies, 62.2% did so to improve their quality of life; 59.5% did so for treatment, supportive treatment, or both, and 54.1% used CAM therapies to help control symptoms. The most frequent CAM therapies used by psychiatric patients were spiritual therapies such as Quran recitation; body therapies, mainly exercise; and mind therapies, mainly relaxation techniques. These CAM therapies were used mainly as treatments or supportive treatments for depression. Most of the participants who used CAM therapies were satisfied with the use of these therapies (75.7%). Finally, 45.9% of the participants had not discussed the use of CAM therapies with their doctors, primarily because of their reluctance to share private information, especially spiritual matters, with the treating physicians. Conclusions The study results suggest a high prevalence of CAM therapy use among Saudi adult psychiatric patients, as well as a high level of satisfaction with such therapies. However, since about half of the patients had not discussed the use of CAM therapies with their physicians, and since some of the CAM therapies may cause unfavorable interactions when used alongside certain medications or medical interventions, healthcare providers should be diligent about inquiring of their psychiatric patients any use of CAM therapies, not only during the initial visit but also during the follow-up visits as well.
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Introduction Maintaining research ethics within a university and monitoring the campus Institutional Review Board (IRB) are essential responsibilities not to be taken lightly. IRBs occasionally need to be reviewed to see that they, as well as researchers, are adhering to rules and regulations on ethics through their submission and review procedures. Since there are no established measures for assessing IRB quality, it is unclear how to determine whether IRBs are achieving their intended aims. This study used the feedback and input of campus members at a newly-established, private, non-profit university within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to evaluate their campus IRB. Methods Following the university's IRB approval, and in close collaboration with the Saudi National Committee of Bioethics (NCBE), this cross-sectional study was conducted from February through May of 2019. Self-administered surveys were sent out via university emails to faculty and students at Alfaisal University in Riyadh of Saudi Arabia. The questions in the surveys included inquiries on participants' demographics, their familiarity with campus IRB research ethics, their satisfaction with IRB procedures, the challenges encountered during the IRB submission and review process, the effectiveness of a recent IRB-coordinated research ethics campaign, and any suggestions for IRB improvement. Surveys were sent to faculty members and students at five colleges on campus. Results Of the campus members who were sent surveys, 8% responded (175). Of those who responded, 29.7% had submitted at least one research proposal for IRB review during the past three years (2016-2019), and more than half of this group were satisfied with the IRB submission and review procedures. For those who had submitted at least one research proposal, respondents reported the more usual challenges that researchers tend to encounter, such as time-consuming and tedious IRB review processes and ambiguous IRB guidelines and regulations. The less typical IRB challenges that were reported, and that are unique to academia, include the IRB tendency to deny undergraduate student requests to serve as principal investigators of their research projects. Concerning IRB efforts to educate and train campus members on research ethics, only 26.3% of the participants were aware of the recently performed research ethics campaign, and 7.6% of the participants attended the end-of-campaign workshop. Of those who attended the workshop, 76.9% reported that the campaign and workshop effectively met their expectations. Conclusions This study revealed several issues encountered by university faculty and students seeking campus IRB approval for their research projects. The main academia-specific challenge was over whether undergraduate students could serve as PIs for research projects, and a universal one was that they find the IRB process to be very time-consuming and tedious, which is a situation that has already been relayed in several other articles on IRB issues. About two-thirds of respondents reported a lack of familiarity with the topic of research ethics. This challenge makes it clear that information on research ethics is not effectively reaching enough campus members in the busy environment of academia.
