2020, Cilt 7, Sayı 3, Sayfa(lar) 271-277
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use for Pain among Elderly Persons and Their Attitudes
Kadriye SAYIN KASAR1, Eda ÜNAL21, Sadet ÇAPACI3, Cemile KÜTMEÇ YILMAZ4, Güler DURU AŞİRET5
1Dr. Öğr. Üyesi, Aksaray Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü, İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği Anabilim Dalı, Aksaray, Türkiye
2Arş. Gör., Aksaray Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü, İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği Anabilim Dalı, Aksaray, Türkiye
3Hemşire, Aksaray Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Aksaray, Türkiye
4Dr. Öğr. Üyesi, Aksaray Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü, İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği Anabilim Dalı, Aksaray, Türkiye
55Doç. Dr., Aksaray Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü, İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği Anabilim Dalı, Aksaray, Türkiye
Keywords: Attitude, complementary and alternative medicine, elderly, nursing, pain

Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the status and attitude of elderly individuals using complementary and alternative medicine methods for pain.

Material and Methods: The sample of this descriptive study consists of 178 elderly individuals hospitalized in internal medicine clinics of a training and research hospital between November 2018-April 2019. Data were collected using the “Individual Information Form” and “Attitudes towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale (ACTS)”.

Results: 25.8% of elderly individuals use complementary and alternative medicine for pain. Although the methods used are mostly herbal products (65.2%), massage (19.6%), praying (6.5%), aromatherapy (4.3%) and hot application (4.3%) are other methods used. The mean score of ACTS was determined as 12.82±7.45. While there was no significant difference between the total score of the scale and age, gender, marital status, educational status, employment status, income level, the person with whom he/she lived, continuous drug use, pain area and the method used (p>0.05), there was a significant difference in patients with pain and using complementary and alternative treatment methods for their pain (p <0.05).

Conclusion: In this study, although the positive attitudes of the elderly who had pain and used any complementary and alternative treatment methods were higher, their positive attitudes towards complementary and alternative treatment methods were generally low.