Knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners towards complementary and alternative medicine in Doha, Qatar

ABSTRACT

A cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners [GPs] towards complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] was conducted in Doha, Qatar. Out of 119 respondents, 39.1% reported poor knowledge about CAM. Self-reported knowledge was highest for counselling and psychotherapy [69.0%], diet and supplements [68.1%], acupuncture [45.2%], herbal medicine [47.3%] and massage [42.5%]. While 83.8% described their attitude to CAM as welcoming and 97.5% were interested to learn more about it, fewer [30.1%] had practised it before, referred patients [24.8%] or asked patients' about their use of CAM [34.8%]. Their own lack of knowledge and training in CAM was seen as a barrier to its use by 60.0% of the GPs