Introduction: Fasting is a common ingredient of naturopathic prescription in India. However no studies have been conducted to establish the use, approach of naturopathy physicians towards fasting. The present study, a cross sectional survey was conducted to assess the attitude, use, belief and understanding about therapeutic fasting among the naturopathy physicians in India. Methods: A 12 item e-mail based questionnaire was sent among 334 naturopathy physicians, which were designed to obtain demographic data, practice characteristics and multiple choice and multiple response close-ended questions along with an open-response final question. Survey questionnaire data was analyzed using descriptive statistics via frequency distribution and cross tabulations. Results: A convenient sample of total 257 participants was collected. Majority of the respondents were private practitioners with an average experience of 5 years. 50% of the total population confirms the use of fasting in their daily prescription which is mostly for 1-5 days (54%) and for all diseases (38.5%). Physicians mostly prescribe short term mono fasting with fruits or juices (42.8%) along with all other modalities (61.5%) to get desired effect. The end results of fasting therapy was quoted as satisfactory (51.7%) whereas the misconceptions of the patients was a challenge for 1/3 and most of them find it easy to administer in adults (85%). Conclusion: Naturopathy physicians use fasting as a first line management in almost all chronic and acute diseases. However there is a need for strengthening the evidence based practice to bestow better care.
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Nair,P MK, Mohanty,S and R,J . (2015). Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Therapeutic Fasting Among Naturopathy Physicians: Across Sectional National Survey. Journal of Nutrition,Fasting and Health, 3(4), 177-182. doi: 10.22038/jfh.2015.6075
MLA
Nair,P MK, , Mohanty,S , and R,J . "Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Therapeutic Fasting Among Naturopathy Physicians: Across Sectional National Survey", Journal of Nutrition,Fasting and Health, 3, 4, 2015, 177-182. doi: 10.22038/jfh.2015.6075
HARVARD
Nair P MK, Mohanty S, R J. (2015). 'Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Therapeutic Fasting Among Naturopathy Physicians: Across Sectional National Survey', Journal of Nutrition,Fasting and Health, 3(4), pp. 177-182. doi: 10.22038/jfh.2015.6075
CHICAGO
P MK Nair, S Mohanty and J R, "Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Therapeutic Fasting Among Naturopathy Physicians: Across Sectional National Survey," Journal of Nutrition,Fasting and Health, 3 4 (2015): 177-182, doi: 10.22038/jfh.2015.6075
VANCOUVER
Nair P MK, Mohanty S, R J. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Therapeutic Fasting Among Naturopathy Physicians: Across Sectional National Survey. JNFH. 2015;3(4):177-182. doi: 10.22038/jfh.2015.6075