ArticleResearch in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP2023
Complementary and alternative medicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Community pharmacists' knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Article in Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mistletoe in Cancer Cell Biology: Recent Advances.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Article
- Exploring the Dietary Supplement Use During COVID-19: Insights from Community Pharmacists, Pharmacy Staff, Academics, and Industry Experts.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2024Article
- COVID-19 home remedy consumption and perceived effectiveness among adult population in Brunei Darussalam: a PLS-SEM approach.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe challenges in COVID-19 treatment have driven patients to seek Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for the prevention and/or treatment of the disease. Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to promote the effective and safe use of CAM.
objectiveAssess the beliefs, practices, and knowledge of community pharmacists in Lebanon about existing evidence for the use of CAM for the prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19.
methodsA national cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon (n = 310 respondents). Participants completed an online questionnaire addressing, in addition to the socio-demographic characteristics; the beliefs, practices, and knowledge of pharmacists regarding the existing evidence of CAM use for COVID-19 prevention and/or treatment.
resultsPharmacists (70%) received frequent inquiries about CAM for COVID-19 prevention or treatment. Only 25.5% of the pharmacists reported having enough time to get information about CAM and COVID-19. Almost all participants believed that pharmacists have a major role in the fight against COVID-19 (98%) and that they have enough information to counsel patients in that regard (75%). For practices, the majority of pharmacists reported counseling their patients on proper use (98%) and possible adverse reactions (93%) of CAM, but only 51% reported toxic or undesirable effects. Regarding knowledge, although most pharmacists answered correctly the questions on the role of CAM in preventing COVID-19, few knew about its role in treating the infection. Pharmacists who trust the WHO website as a credible source had a higher knowledge score (β = 0.52, 95%CI: 0.05-0.986).
conclusionsThe positive beliefs and practices of pharmacists towards CAM during the pandemic were coupled with a few gaps, especially in their knowledge about existing evidence for CAM use. Concerted efforts ought to be dedicated to supporting pharmacists in playing a more prominent role during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.