DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrmz
title: Knowledge and use of complementary therapies in a tertiary care hospital in France: a preliminary study

description: Purpose: Few studies have clarified the use of complementary therapies
 (CTs) in France. The main objective of this preliminary study was to
 evaluate knowledge of CTs in four representative groups of patients:
 patients suffering from cancer, patients presenting with a chronic
 noncancerous disease, chronic dialysis patients and nonchronic or
 cancerous patients needing surgery. Methods: A formalized questionnaire
 was designed by two psychologists, an oncologist and an anesthesiologist
 in charge of the Pain Clinic and Support Care Unit. One hundred eleven
 patients were enrolled, and all agreed to complete the questionnaire.
 Results: Eighty (72%) patients did not know the term “complementary
 therapies” (patients who were “not aware of CTs”), and 24 (21.6%) patients
 knew the term “complementary therapies” (patients who were “aware of
 CTs”), while seven patients were not sure of the meaning. There were no
 differences between aware and unaware patients in gender (p=0.27), age
 (p=0.24), level of education (p=0.24) or professional occupation (p=0.06).
 Knowledge about CTs was significantly different among the different
 categories of patients (p=0.03), with the only statistically significant
 difference between groups being between oncologic patients receiving
 ambulatory chemotherapy and patients presenting with a chronic
 noncancerous disease (p=0.004). Conclusion: This preliminary study clearly
 highlights that patients and health caregivers are not aware of CTs and
 that there is a need for better communication about CTs.
description: Questionnaire.
description: We have made some
 modifications on the data table to contain private and potentially
 compromising medical information as follows: - two
 classes for the level of education by keeping only: low
 level (no diploma or  less than high school diploma)
 / high level (high school diploma  or university
 degree)  - two classes for the professional situation: low level (lower managerial and professional occupation or student or retired or technical occupation or unemployed) / high level (higher managerial and professional occupation or intermediate occupation)  - two classes for the disease: no cancer (acute obstructive right pyelonephritis, acute prostatitis, acute renal failure, buttock hematoma, chronic atrophic polychondritis, congenital dysfibrinogenemia, crohn's disease, cutaneous systemic sclerosis, cutaneous vesico-cutaneous fistula, colectomy, diagnosis in progress, dialysis for chronic kidney disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation, ENT infection, fibromyalgia, glioblastoma, gonarthrosis, haemorrhagic rectocolitis, hepatic biopsy, hepatitis c, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, hypereosinophilic syndrome, iron deficiency anemia, ischemic colitis, kidney donation, large vessel vasculitis, left colitis episode, lupus erythematosus, malignant external otitis, microscopic polyangiitis , non-infectious inflammatory fasciitis, overreactive bladder, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria , partial nephrectomy, pyelonephritis (bricker), rectal adenocarcinoma, renal artery stenosis, renal cell carcinoma, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcomatoid carcinoma, sigmoiditis, sjögren syndrome, squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder, squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, takayasu disease , wegener's disease) or cancer (bladder cancer, bone cancer, breast cancer, cancer of the throat, ent cancer, hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, laryngeal cancer, medistinal tumor, metastatic stomach cancer, placenta cancer, prostate cancer, throat cancer, undifferentiated nasopharyngeal cancer , urothelial bladder cancer)