Complementary and Alternative Medicines for the Treatment of Hepatitis C: Perspectives of Users and CAM Practitioners
Table 3
Comparison of participants’ perspectives regarding referral and shift to CAM use for the treatment of hepatitis C.
Parameter
Subcategory
Patient (n = 284)
Mean rank
P value
Practitioner (n = 133)
Mean rank
P value
F (n = 207)
M (n = 77)
Herbal (n = 48)
Homeo. (n = 45)
Unani, spiritual (n = 40)
Referral source
Health professionals
39 (18.8)
14 (18.2)
147.9
0.219
3 (6.3)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
22.5
0.026
Relative or neighbours
110 (53.1)
50 (64.9)
156.8
7 (14.6)
8 (17.8)
10 (17.6)
77.3
Printed advertisement
11 (5.3)
1 (1.3)
115.8
10 (20.8)
2 (4.4)
6 (17.6)
69.5
By other patients
7 (3.4)
3 (3.9)
146.6
26 (54.2)
32 (71.1)
17 (47.2)
61.8
Care giver
40 (19.3)
9 (11.7)
130.1
2 (4.2)
3 (6.7)
7 (17.6)
85.3
Reasons for patients to switch to CAM
Side effects
105 (50.7)
43 (55.8)
145.3
0.641
27 (56.3)
25 (55.6)
21 (44.1)
69.6
0.030
Confidence in CAM
49 (23.7)
21 (27.3)
146.6
5 (10.4)
10 (22.2)
8 (23.5)
81.4
Expensive allopathic
43 (20.8)
11 (14.3)
132.9
10 (20.8)
4 (8.9)
8 (23.5)
55.1
Easy access
6 (2.9)
1 (1.3)
124.3
4 (8.3)
5 (11.1)
2 (5.9)
55.2
Not described
4 (1.9)
1 (1.3)
132.4
2 (4.2)
1 (2.2)
1 (2.9)
34.0
Abbreviations: CAM = complementary and alternative medicines, F = females, M = males, homeo. = homeopathic, and Chi-Square test; value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Mean ranks of the variables are obtained by Kruskal–Wallis test.
