Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Attitudes and Competencies of Nursing Students and Faculty: Results of Integrating CAM Into the Nursing Curriculum
As part of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) R25 Education Grant Program, a faculty development program for integrating CAM into the nursing curriculum was instituted in 2003-2006. The Integrating CAM program comprised a number of elements; the primary strategy included a series of 4-week didactic and experiential summer CAM “camps,” attended by a total of 27 faculty members. Camps were designed to influence faculty integration of CAM material into course offerings. The Integrating CAM program was evaluated via a series of faculty and student surveys regarding CAM competencies, attitudes, and perceptions. For more than half of the faculty (out of the 43 who responded), the program yielded a moderate-to-strong influence on incorporation of CAM material into course content; and moderate-to-great increases in both enthusiasm for CAM and perceived CAM knowledge gains. Students at all levels (undergraduate, masters, doctoral; n = 184) reported that their courses contained CAM content; for 70% of students, their CAM knowledge increased; for 50% of students, level of CAM interest increased. Self-reported student CAM competencies were significantly greater in 2006-2007 (n = 191) than in 2003-2004 (n = 143). Results support the strategy of broadly infusing the nursing curriculum with CAM content via faculty development
