The Effect of a Traditional Chinese Medicine Course on Western Medicine Students’ Attitudes Toward Traditional Chinese Medicine: Self-Controlled Pre-Post Questionnaire Study

TL;DR

A study found that taking a traditional Chinese medicine course improved Western medicine students' attitudes toward TCM, especially in their treatment preferences.

Contribution

This study demonstrates that TCM courses can positively influence WM students' attitudes and treatment preferences.

Findings

FYP students showed significant increases in total ASTCM scores and all three attitude factors after the TCM course.

EYP students only showed a significant increase in behavioral tendency scores.

Treatment preferences shifted toward TCM in FYP students for acute, chronic, and physical diseases.

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hasbeen widely used to treat various diseases in China for thousands of years and has shown satisfactory effectiveness. However, many surveys found that TCM receives little recognition from Western medicine (WM) physicians and students. At present, TCM is offered as a compulsory course for WM students in WM schools.

This study aimed to investigate whether TCM courses can affect the WM students’ attitude toward TCM.

WM students from Xiangya Medical School were invited to completeaweb-based questionnaire before and immediately after a TCM course. Their attitude toward TCM and treatment preferences for different kinds of diseases were tested. The Attitude Scale of TCM (ASTCM) was used. The main part of the ASTCM was designed to measure the attitude of medical students towardTCM. It consisted of 18 items, divided into cognitive dimension (5 terms), emotional dimension (8 terms), and behavioral tendencyfactor (5 terms).

Finally, the results of 118 five-year program (FYP) and 36 eight-year program (EYP) students were included. For FYP students, there was a significant increase in the total mean score (66.42, SD 7.66 vs 71.43, SD 7.38;P<.001) of ASTCM after the TCM course. Significant increases in mean scores of the 3 factors of attitude (cognition: 21.64, SD 2.08 vs 22.90, SD 1.94; affection: 25.21, SD 4.39 vs 27.96, SD 4.4; and behavioral tendency: 19.577, SD 3.02 vs 20.58, SD 2.76; P<.001)were also observed. Except for the score of behavioral tendency (17.50, SD 3.54 vs 18.78, SD 3.22; P=.02), a significant increase was not detected in total score, cognition, and affection in EPY students (total score: mean 60.36, SD 10.53 vs mean 62.92, SD 10.05; cognition: mean 20.50, SD 2.73 vs mean 20.69, SD 2.73; and affection: mean 22.36, SD 6.32 vs mean 23.44, SD 5.84; all P>.05). The treatment preference of FYP students in acute (P=.02), chronic (P=.003), and physical diseases (P=.02) showed remarkable change. A major change was also detected in internal diseases (P=.02), surgical diseases (perioperative period; P=.01), and mental illnesses (P=.02) in EYP students. This change mainly appeared as a decline in WM preference and an increase in TCM and WM preference.

The study showed that earlier exposure to the TCM course increased the positive attitude toward TCM in students majoring in WM. The results provide some suggestions for arraging TCM courses in WM schools.