Diz Osteoartritli Kadınların Tamamlayıcı ve Alternatif Tedavi Kullanım ve Semptom- Fonksiyonel Durumlarının Belirlenmesi

Abstract

The aim of this descriptive study is to determine the symptom and functional status of women with knee osteoarthritis using or not they undergo complementary and alternative medicine. Study sample consists of 255 patients admitted to the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of Atatürk Training and Research Hospital and to the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of Ankara Training and Research Hospital of the University of Health Sciences. Data were collected using Data Sheet developed by the researcher based on literature review and the Scale of Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Bonferroni correction were used to analyze the data. Results show that 22% of participants use complementary and alternative medicine and 75% of them prefer herbal treatments. 55.4% of the them have turned to herbal treatments with advice from relatives, friends etc. 83.9% of the participants do not inform healthcare personnel regarding the treatments they receive. Pain scores of patients using complementary alternative medicine are statistically significantly higher than those not using complementary and alternative medicine (p =0.003). Mean scores of Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores depending on demographic characteristics show that participants pain, daily activities, life quality, sports and functional status scores statistically significant differ by age, education and disease year (p<0,005). In conclusion, as patients use complementary and alternative medicine, particularly due to pain, health personnel inform and monitor the patients in order to make them more conscious about conventional and alternative medicine.