Integration of herbal medicine in primary care in Israel: a jewish-arab cross-cultural perspective.
Herbal medicine is a prominent complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modality in Israel based on the country's natural diversity and impressive cultural mosaic. In this study, we compared cross-cultural perspectives of patients attending primary care clinics in northern Israel on herbal medicine specifically and CAM generally, and the possibility of integrating them within primary care. Research assistants administered a questionnaire to consecutive patients attending seven primary care clinics. About 2184 of 3713 respondents (59%) defined themselves as Muslims, Christians or Druze (henceforth Arabs) and 1529 (41%) as Jews. Arab respondents reported more use of herbs during the previous year (35 versus 27.8% P = .004) and of more consultations with herbal practitioners (P < .0001). Druze reported the highest rate of herbal consultations (67.9%) and Ashkenazi Jews the lowest rate (45.2%). About 27.5% of respondents supported adding a herbal practitioner to their clinic's medical team if CAM were to be integrated within primary care. Both Arabs and Jews report considerable usage of herbal medicine, with Arabs using it significantly more. Cross-cultural perspectives are warranted in the study of herbal medicine use in the Arab and Jewish societies.
Complementary and Traditional Medicine Unit, Department of Family Medicine, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa and Clalit Health Services, Haifa and Western Galilee District, Haifa 35013, Israel.
Eran
E
Ben-Arye
Efraim
E
Lev
Yael
Y
Keshet
Elad
E
Schiff