full pdf of issue - Middle East Journal of Family Medicine

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION AND CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
Subjects and Methods
This cross-sectional family-based
study was conducted in two villages
(Elnasr and Nagella) representing
a rural community belonging to
Bir El Abd District, North Sinai
Governorate. The estimated
population of Bir El Abd was 72,678
for the year 2010. The population
in this community is cared for by 16
primary health care units belonging to
the Ministry of Health and Population
(MOHP) and the other one is the
Family Practice Center affiliated to
the Faculty of Medicine Suez Canal
University (FOM/SCU).
The sampling unit used in the study
was the family. This was defined
as a group of individuals living
together in a household, and usually
included the father, the mother,
sons and daughters and sometimes
grandparents. A structured
questionnaire was designed to fulfill
the study objectives. It consisted of
two sections. The first section was
concerned with the personal and
socio-demographic characteristics of
the participants (age, gender,) and
education, income of the family and
health insurance of the respondent.
The second section enquired about
CAM use at any time.
Testing feasibility and reliability
of the questionnaire was done
by conducting a pilot study on 20
volunteers. Consent was obtained
from the participants to participate
in the study and answer the
questionnaire, after sharing with them
the objectives of the study. Also,
confidentiality of data was ensured.
The participants (either husband or
wife representing the head of the
family) were invited to a structured
interview with the trained interviewers
under supervision of the researcher.
The obtained data were coded,
entered and processed on a
personal computer using Statistical
Package of Social Science (SPSS).
The appropriate statistical tests
were used to identify significant
difference. Chi square test was used
for categorical data and Fischer
Exact test was used if at least one
expected value was less than 5. Also,
logistic regression test was used. A
stepwise logistic analysis was used
to test association of CAM use with
the studied variables. Statistical
significance was considered at p-
value 0.05). Use of
CAM showed significant association
with age (being more users (89%) if
age < 60 years), being more users
if illiterate (29%) and read / write/
completed only primary education
(32.7%)(P< 0.05). On the other
hand, CAM did not show significant
association with marital status,
monthly employment status, income
and coverage with health insurance
(P>0.05).
After adjustment using stepwise
logistic regression analysis, the
expected probability of CAM use
among the studied population
decreased by 0.5 if illiterate/read
/write or completed primary or middle
level of education (P