Assessment of Stem Cell Therapy Awareness and Attitude in Community at the City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Author(s):

Randa Alfotawi and Nihal Almuraikhi

Broadly, stem cell therapy becomes a famous and promising medical strategy for some challenging diseases. Nevertheless, literature shows mild to moderate level of knowledge and attitude toward stem cell therapy even among medical practitioners. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the awareness of community, and health care workers toward stem cell therapy, in the City of Riyadh, KSA. Methods: A crosssectional study to assess the level of knowledge and attitude of community, and health care workers. The study was carried out using an electronic questionnaire sent to candidates, consisted of demographic information, stem cell knowledge, application, safety, and clinical attitude statements. Descriptive statistics was computed. Categorical data were presented as numbers (frequencies) and percentages, question responses with were compared across groups with chi-square tests in SPSS version 23, P values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: The study reported a low /moderate level of knowledge and neutral attitude toward stem cell application of health care workers in the Riyadh region. 51% of health care workers were willing to advocate for this therapy if they got consulted. Likewise, the public reported a low/moderate level of knowledge at (57%). Luckily, most of the participants having a positive attitude regarding their approach toward the therapy. Conclusion: The study may suggest the need for awareness`s campaign to enhance the level of attitude toward stem cells therapy for both healthcare workers and the public. Behavioral, social, cultural, and religion are the main determine the attitude of stem cell therapy into the current medical.