The perception of illness and the importance of complementary and alternative treatments on the patients suffering from headaches

Studies are made on using complementary and alternative treatment (CAT) techniques on increasing headache case in the world and the reasons why patients consult on this treatment. One of the reasons can be the difference in the way patience feel the illness. The rate of using CAT for headache in our country and studies on the perception of headache patients are not within our research. Therefore, this study considered epidemology, socio-demographic features of patients, using CAT for headache patients and their perception of illness. The participants were 211 patients who came to hospital and suffering from headache and accepted to participate in the study following February 2012. For diagnosis, the measurements of International Headache Society (IHS) in 2004 were used. Headache Investigation Questionnaire, Test of Illnes Perception and Completitive Technique of Alternative Treatment Investigation Questionnaire were used for evaluation of patients. For data analysis Shapiro Wilk Test, the test for signicifance in the difference between two avarages, Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test, Yates corrective x-square and Fisher x-square tests were applied. The significance rate waas determined as p<0,05. It was found out that patients who suffer from headache chronically use CAT more often than regular headache patients using CAT 26,1% (p=0,60). The group using CAT came out to be older than the group not using it. Unemployed, student and full-time employees (p=0,033), single ones including divorced (p=0,026), and the ones with higher education used CAT more than other occupational fields (p=0,042), married people (p=0,026) and the ones with lower education (p=0,009), relatively. The most frequent reason to use CAT was ?I believe that it heals the headache in the best way?, and the satisfaction rate was found %55. 64% of the patients showed themselves as ?source of advice?. In the sub-tests of ?results? and ?understanding the illness? in Illness Perception Questionnaire, it was revealed that high school and university degree groups are more conscious and more able to understand the illness than the primary school degree group (p<0,05). In conclusion, the patient who is single or divorced and live alone, and having higher education are more tend to use CAT if he?s suffering from long-term untreated headache. In this patient group, it is essential to explain the early and effective treatment of headache to the patient in detail.