Indonesian clinical psychologists’ perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine research and knowledge: a content analysis study
The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice
ISSN: 1755-6228
Article publication date: 26 April 2019
Issue publication date: 26 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
As part of a nationwide research about knowledge, attitude, experiences and educational needs towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among Indonesian clinical psychologists (CPs), the purpose of this paper is to explore CPs’ perceptions of CAM research and their interest in learning CAM.
Design/methodology/approach
A link to an online survey was e-mailed to all 1,045 CPs across Indonesia. At the end of the survey, two open-ended questions were asked: “What do you think about CAM research in Indonesia?” and “Why are you interested in learning about CAM?”, which were responded to by 127 participants (87 per cent of females; Mage=36.67, SD=9.02). Participants’ responses were analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis.
Findings
It was found that two global themes for CPs’ perceptions of CAM were to improve participants’ professionalism and as part of continuing education and development for mental health professionals. The favourable responses in this study may reflect participants’ willingness to be involved in collaborative CAM research and education. Moreover, CAM was perceived as part of Indonesian culture and participants viewed CAM research and knowledge as a chance to promote Indonesian local wisdom to complement conventional psychotherapy.
Research limitations/implications
These findings might call for stakeholders to integrate CAM knowledge into psychology education, facilitate CAM research in psychology settings and encourage collaborative CAM research. However, self-selection bias may limit the findings of this study.
Originality/value
This study explored perceptions of CAM research and interest in learning CAM that have rarely been investigated among mental health professionals and particularly, until now, have not been investigated in Indonesia.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is supported by Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Scholarship (LPDP RI) under a doctoral degree scholarship (20150122082410). The author thanks Annie Pohlman, PhD and Bryanna Wilson, BA (Hons) for the proofreading of the manuscript; and the two reviewers for their constructive feedback. The author declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this paper. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Citation
Liem, A. (2019), "Indonesian clinical psychologists’ perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine research and knowledge: a content analysis study", The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 164-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-03-2018-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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