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Predicting Physicians' Intentions to Recommend Medical Cannabis
Yuval Zolotov1, Simon Vulfsons1, Sharon Sznitman1
1School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; Institute for Pain Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel; Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|May 31, 2019
Summary
Physicians are more likely to recommend medical cannabis (MC) for cancer patients than for chronic pain patients. Attitudes and perceived knowledge significantly influence these recommendations, especially in chronic pain management.
Area of Science:
- Medical research
- Public health policy
- Behavioral science
Background:
- Medical cannabis (MC) integration into clinical practice faces ongoing debate despite evolving policies.
- Physician recommendations for MC vary, necessitating an understanding of influencing factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors influencing physicians' intentions to recommend MC using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).
- To compare these influencing factors across family medicine, oncology, and pain medicine specialties.
Main Methods:
- 247 physicians completed questionnaires assessing TPB constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control) and MC recommendation intentions.
- Regression models analyzed the predictive power of perceived knowledge and TPB constructs on recommendation intentions for cancer and chronic pain vignettes.
Main Results:
- Physicians showed higher intentions to recommend MC for cancer patients compared to chronic pain patients.
- MC recommendation for cancer patients correlated with favorable attitudes.
- MC recommendation for chronic pain patients was associated with favorable attitudes, higher perceived control, and lower perceived knowledge.
Conclusions:
- Physician recommendations for MC are influenced by attitudes, perceived control, and knowledge, with significant differences between cancer and chronic pain patient scenarios.
- Nonmedical factors may impact MC clinical practices, particularly in chronic pain management, highlighting its contentious nature in this field.