Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ctcp Midwives’ personal views and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM): A national survey Lyndall Mollart a,b,* , Virginia Stulz c , Maralyn Foureur a a Centre for Midwifery and Child and Family Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, City Campus, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia b School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW Australia, University Dr, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia c School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Penrith NSW, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Midwives Views Beliefs Complementary and alternative medicine CAM National survey ABSTRACT Complementary and Alternative Medicine/Therapies (CAM) options have increasingly been used by pregnant women, however literature describing midwives' views and beliefs towards CAM is sparse. This study aimed to investigate Australian midwives’ views and beliefs about CAM. Methods: A national survey of Australian College of Midwives midwife members (n = 3552) (UTSHREC 2015000614) included questions on midwives’ views and support of CAM, and beliefs using a validated CAM Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ). Results: The response rate was 16%. Most respondents believed women should have the right to choose CAM (93.3%); and didn't view CAM a threat to public health (91.7%). Nearly half (49.5%) believed that their hos- pital/service did not have guidelines/procedures on CAM. The CHBQ mean score was 45.43 (SD9.98). Conclusion: Most respondents agreed with the fundamental beliefs of CAM. This study confirms the need for a national CAM policy for midwives; and research on midwives’ CAM training. 1. Introduction The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has risen in popularity in recent years in Australia and internationally, with a recent name change to Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) [1]. CAM or CIH can be describe as a group of diverse health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of (Western) conventional medicine [1]. There is increasing interest from women during pregnancy, labour and postpartum (the perinatal period) in the use of CAM modalities such as aromatherapy, acu- puncture, massage, herbs and vitamins/minerals [2–8]. Pregnant women are choosing CAM as they perceive it provides more choice, control and autonomy in their health care decision making [4,9,10]. Whilst it is known that CAM is widely used by pregnant women and recommended by midwives, less is known about midwives' views and beliefs towards CAM. Midwives play an important role in the health and education of women during the perinatal period. Several studies have revealed that midwives perceive CAM as either an alternative to medical intervention or, complementary to conventional medicine, and an additional avenue towards empowering women and increasing women's autonomy [11–14]. These views align with core principles of midwifery that promote childbirth as a normal and natural process and integral to this process, that midwives play an important role in facilitating support and choice for women [9,14]. There is a paucity of research focusing on the attitudes and views of midwives about CAM with only three studies found worldwide [14–16]. One study conducted over 10 years ago, reported that midwives from the state of South Australia have a positive view of CAM, perceive CAM as natural and effective in stimulating the body's natural healing power, and do not view CAM as a threat to public health [16]. Harding and Foureur's (2009) study of 171 New Zealand and 172 Canadian mid- wives found that the majority of midwives agreed with the statements, that CAM: supports normal birth; is an essential part of midwifery and enhances midwifery care; is often used to avoid medical intervention; and is not considered an intervention [14]. The only study using a validated tool (CAM Health Belief Questionnaire -CHBQ) and the 3rd study found, surveyed 173 nurse-midwives in Israel and discovered that the majority of respondents strongly agreed with many of the funda- mental tenets of CAM: belief in the existence of an underlying energy/ life force, concept of self-healing, importance of integrating patients' expectations, health beliefs and values into the patient care process [15]. More than half of the midwives agreed with the statement that CAM stimulates the body's natural therapeutic powers (57%) and the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.12.008 Received 9 November 2018; Received in revised form 7 December 2018; Accepted 15 December 2018 * Corresponding author. School of Nursing and Midwifery, University Dr, Callaghan, 2308, NSW, Australia. E-mail addresses: Lyndall.Mollart@newcastle.edu.au (L. Mollart), V.Skinner@westernsydney.edu.au (V. Stulz), maralyn.foureur@uts.edu.au (M. Foureur). Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 34 (2019) 235–239 1744-3881/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T