title: Use of and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine among obstetricians in Israel.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine attitudes toward and use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by obstetricians during pregnancy and childbirth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 2010 and 2011, obstetricians from 7 medical centers (n=170) in Israel completed questionnaires examining the use and recommendation of CAM treatments during pregnancy and childbirth. Attitudes were examined via the CAM Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over half of the participants (58.8%) reported using at least 1 CAM treatment, and nearly two-thirds had recommended or would recommend CAM to pregnant patients. By contrast, use of CAM during childbirth was recommended by only 26% of respondents. The total CHBQ score was moderately high (mean ± SD, 40.4 ± 7.30; possible range, 7.0-70.0), indicating an overall positive attitude toward CAM. Female board-certified specialists answered more favorably regarding attitudes toward CAM (P=0.004). The structural validity of the CHBQ was examined using varimax rotation factor analysis, which produced a 3-factor solution explaining 63.1% of the variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most obstetricians exhibited positive attitudes toward CAM and recommended its use during pregnancy, but did not support CAM use during childbirth. This discrepancy might be partly due to the involvement of Israeli obstetricians in predominantly high-risk cases of childbirth requiring intervention.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative and Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. refplus@netvision.net.il
authors.forename: Noah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Samuels
authors.forename: Rachel Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Zisk-Rony
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Many
authors.forename: Gadi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ben-Shitrit
authors.forename: Offer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Erez
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mankuta
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rabinowitz
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lavie
authors.forename: Judith T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Shuval
authors.forename: Menachem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oberbaum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D018566:Pregnancy, High-Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult