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Objective: This study was designed to investigate the attitudes of individuals aged 18-24 towards complementary and alternative medicine. Material-Method: The sample of the cross-sectional study, an analytical type of research, consisted of 178 people aged 18- 24, with at least primary education, technological devices, and the ability to use internet networks. The data were collected using the Socio-Demographic Information Form and the Complementary, Alternative, and Conventional Medicine Attitudes Scale (CACMAS). Descriptive statistics, independent groups t-test, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Tukey tests, and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The significance level was taken as 0.05 in the interpretation of the results. Results: Several factors were found to positively impact mean scale scores (p < 0.05), including having a large family, perceiving complementary or alternative medicine practices as beneficial, recommending these practices to close relatives or friends. Additionally, it has been found that believing complementary medicine practices to be more beneficial than treatments provided by healthcare institutions also positively influenced scale score averages (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The study found that around half of participants aged 18-24 used complementary and alternative medicine practices, and that some personal attitudes influenced attitudes towards complementary medicine. Hence, there exists a necessity to disseminate accurate information regarding the appropriate utilization of complementary medicine practices, ensuring their application by qualified individuals, and to engage the younger people in such initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although its roots go back centuries, there is still a demand for traditional medicine practices and it is important to know the opinion of the society and healthcare professionals about the subject. Our study aims to determine the attitudes of healthcare professional and non-healthcare hospital staff about traditional medicine. Material-Method: A two-stage questionnaire, a demographic information section, and the Complementary, Alternative, and Conventional Medicine Attitudes Scale (CACMAS) was used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov Smirnov, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 681 staff of nine public and private hospitals participated in the study. 65.4% (n=439) of the participants were healthcare professionals, 34.6% (n=232) were non-healthcare professionals. The mean scores of the healthcare professional respondents were 92.6 (±16.7), of the non-healthcare professional respondents were 126.1 (±11.7). Conclusion: In our study, it was found that healthcare professionals' attitudes towards traditional medicine practices were more negative than non-healthcare professionals. However, as according to the current legislation in many countries around the world, only physicians who receive standard training and other healthcare professionals under their supervision are authorized to perform traditional medicine practices in Turkey. As a result of our study, it was determined that the attitudes of healthcare professionals and other segments of the society should be observed about traditional medicine practices and that measures should be taken to bring together the supply and demand for traditional medicine on a legal basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]