• Rakan Radi, Ula Isleem, Lujain Al Omari, Orhan Alimoğlu, Handan Ankarali, and Hana Taha.
• Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. Electronic address: rakanradi95@gmail.com.
• Complement Ther Med. 2018 Dec 1; 41: 175-179.

BackgroundPerceptions towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) are highly variable but are improving globally. However, studies conducted in Jordan about CAM are insufficient. This study aims to explore the attitudes and barriers towards using CAM among university students in Jordan.Design And MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Jordan. A self-administered paper questionnaire was distributed to 475 students from the Faculties of Medicine, Pharmacy and Engineering of all academic years. Descriptive and multivariate data analysis was done using SPSS v.20.ResultsSeventy percent of all the participants have used at least one type of CAM. Younger female pharmacy students were most likely to use CAM. There were significant differences between students of different academic years regarding their opinions on CAM (p < 0.024). The percentage of medical students who believed that combining CAM with modern medicine would improve the overall treatment quality was significantly lower than the other two faculties (p < 0.001). Of the students who never used CAM, 39% did not do because they doubted its effectiveness.ConclusionThere is a need for including CAM in the universities' curriculum as mandatory courses for health faculties and elective courses for other disciplines.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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