Abstract:

Introduction: Cancer is among the leading cause of death globally. Despite advancing technology in conventional methods of cancer diagnosis and treatment, access to health services remains a big challenges especially developing countries. Very often, patients use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to improve their health outcomes.

Methods: The study was conducted to determine prevalence; most commonly used CAMs and factors associated with the use CAM among cancer patients attending Oncology clinic at Bugando medical centre (BMC). A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. Data was obtained from 185 patients by a standardized questionnaire. Data was cleaned, coded and keyed manually into SPSS version 20. Data was then summarized using graphs and tables.

Results: The results showed that majority of the respondent (94.06%) were using CAM mainly to improve health (34.6%). There was no association between use of CAM and socio-demographic factor. The common method used includes vitamins and supplements (34.6), herbs (25.9%) and spiritual beliefs (23.2%). Family (72.97%) and friends (11.35%) provided the major source of CAM. Health promotion (34.60%) and pain relief (29.70%) were the most frequently perceived benefit reported by CAM users and none of the users reported side effects.

Conclusion: Results portray a significant use of CAM by cancer patients at BMC. Health care provider should focus on the practices that patients attempt specifically the use of CAM and advice accordingly. The government should regulate all CAM products that are accessible to the public and ensure that providers are well trained and registered.