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African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
African Ethnomedicines Network
ISSN: 0189-6016
Vol. 6, No. 3, 2009, pp. 281 - 288
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Bioline Code: tc09038
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2009, pp. 281 - 288
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Knowledge, Attitude And Use Of Alternative Medical Therapy Amongst Urban Residents Of Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria
Bamidele, James Olusegun; Adebimpe, Wasiu Olalekan & Oladele, Edward Adekola
Abstract
Alternate medicine which has a long history has been relegated to the background by the evolution of
modern medicine. In recent times, however, alternative medical therapy has been growing in popularity and getting
increasing attention and interest. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude and use by urban dwellers of alternative
medical therapies. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study which used a semi-structured questionnaire to gather
information from 812 randomly selected urban respondents. Majority 734 (90.4%) of the respondents were aware of
an alternative way of getting treatment for their ailments apart from the orthodox medicine. The forms of alternative
medical therapy (AMT) respondents were aware of include: concoction (herbal preparations) 683 (94.2%);
herbalists/traditionalists 616 (85.0%); traditional bone setters therapy 434 (59.9%); among others. The main source
of information was through radio 439 (70.9%). About half 403 (54.9%) of the respondents were aware of side
effects from AMT and these include diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting which accounts for 69.7%; 42.2% and
40.2% respectively. About 347 (47.3%) think AMT could be injurious to health. About a third 262 (35.7%) of the
respondents who were aware of AMT prefers it to orthodox medicine. Reasons given for the preference were that:
AMT is cheap 56 (21.4%); accessible 43 (16.4%) and acceptable 35 (13.4%) to them. About half 367 (50.0%) also
believed AMT alone could cure their illness without resort to orthodox medical therapy (OMT). Over half 401
(54.6%) of the 734 respondents that were aware of AMT had patronized or taken one form of alternative medical
therapy or the other in the last 12 months prior to the study. Of these number, 323 (80.5%) had taken concoction
(herbal preparations). However, there was no relationship between respondents’ age, sex, educational level or
religion and the patronage of AMT as all test of associations were not statistically significant p>0.05. This study has
revealed that the use of alternative medical therapies is quite popular among the studied population and a high
proportion of the respondents use AMT notwithstanding that they live in the urban communities where they have
better access to orthodox medical care and medical practitioners. Regulations should be made concerning the
advertisement of alternative medicine and practices as orthodox medicine and practices are usually not advertised.
Keywords
words: Knowledge, attitude, use, alternative medical therapies, urban dwellers
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