“I’ve only just heard about it”: Complementary and alternative medicine knowledge and educational needs of clinical psychologists in Indonesia

The aim of this 2019 study was to evaluate clinical psychologists in Indonesia on their knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Liem held semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 43 clinical psychologists in public health centers in Indonesia. There was a wide range of responses to questions around complementary and alternative medicine use. Some had little or no prior knowledge while others were much more familiar. The source of the knowledge also ranged widely from popular to scientific literature. Some respondents also regarded complementary and alternative medicine as an important part of Indonesian culture and therefore consider it crucial to be educated on this area of medicine. The interview revealed that the challenges for learning even more about complementary and alternative medicines came from institutions and were also due to personal reasons. But the professionals admit that some of these treatments should be introduced in training sessions. Overall, complementary and alternative medicine was determined to be neither well-known nor understood widely by the clinical psychologists in Indonesia. [NPID: interdisciplinary effects, Indonesia, complementary medicine, alternative medicine, public health]

Year: 2019

Reference: Liem A. (2019). "I've Only Just Heard About It": Complementary and Alternative Medicine Knowledge and Educational Needs of Clinical Psychologists in Indonesia. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 55(7), 333. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55070333