Background: Religious care and support are vital for a holistic patient care. The phenomenon has widely spread in Muslim countries and in the west as well. WHO is showing marked concern and in our Arabic and Islamic region there is a growing concern towards traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine.
Objectives: 1. To explore knowledge and attitudes of the public, primary health care physicians and other health professionals, and policy makers towards religious and spiritual medical practices; 2. To describe the religious and spiritual Islamic medical practices content of Arabic speaking Satellite TV channels.
Subjects and Methods: The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Saudi Arabia has conducted four cross-sectional surveys within the last four years from 2009 to 2012, plus a media analysis survey on religious and spiritual medicine on Arabic speaking Satellite TV channels. Studies targeted policy makers of Ministry of Health (112 participated), health professionals (306 participated), primary health care physicians (113 participated), and the public (518 participated). Also, topics and programs of religious healing practices on the Arabic Satellite TV channels. Data were collected through pre- designed questionnaires some self-administered, and some filled through direct interviews. In the media study a comprehensive survey was performed for two weeks covering all Arabic speaking Satellite TV channels. Findings were statically presented and analyzed using SPSS statistical package for windows.
Results: Religious healing utilization reported high rates reaching 70% in some studies, especially among females, older ages and low educational groups, and in particular for chronic and malignant diseases. Media survey on Arab TV channels revealed religious programs and topics to be the most prominent and more frequently repeated compared to other practices of complementary and alternative medicine.
Conclusion: There is a health professional and community interest on religious therapies. There is a highlighted need for provision of authenticated information about CAM and religious healing practices to the public and to health professional, provision of educational and training programs for doctors and health care providers, for regulating those practices against quackery and sorcery.
Key words: Knowledge, Attitudes, Health Professionals, Policy Makers, Religious Medical Practices
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