Women's attitudes towards the use of complementary and alternative medicine products during pregnancy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse women's attitudes towards the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products during pregnancy. The study sample was obtained via the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health or ALSWH. A response rate of 79.2% (n = 1,835) was attained. Women who use herbal medicines (34.5%, n = 588) view CAM as a preventative measure, are looking for something holistic and are concerned about evidence of clinical efficacy when considering the use of these products during pregnancy. Women who use aromatherapy (17.4%, n = 319) and homoeopathy (13.3%, n = 244) want more personal control over their body and are concerned more about their own personal experience of the efficacy of CAM than clinical evidence of efficacy. As CAM use in pregnancy appears to be increasingly commonplace, insights into women's attitudes towards CAM are valuable for maternity healthcare providers.

Keywords::

• Complementary and alternative medicine
• attitudes
• pregnancy

Acknowledgements

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, which was conceived and developed by groups of interdisciplinary researchers at the Universities of Newcastle and University of Queensland, is funded by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing. We thank all participants for their valuable contribution to this project.

Funding

We also thank the NHMRC for funding Professor Jon Adams via an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship as well as the ARC for funding this project via their Discovery Project Funding (DP1094765) and for funding Associate Professor Alex Broom via an ARC Future Fellowship.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.