Exploring General Practitioners’ attitudes to homeopathy in Dumfries and Galloway

Abstract

This comparative quantitative study explored General Practitioners’ (GPs) attitudes to homeopathy in Dumfries and Galloway, a predominantly rural area in South West Scotland where there is a local British Homeopathic Association Funded Homeopathic Clinic. It aimed to determine whether there was an association between expressed attitudes to homeopathy and a number of variables. Issues arising from the House of Lords Report on CAM were also explored. A self-administered questionnaire was addressed to all 135 GPs within Dumfries and Galloway. Descriptive statistics were used in the data analysis.

The response rate was 75%. The NHS GP clinic accounted for 47% of total referrals for homeopathy. A total of 86.1% of GPs within Dumfries and Galloway were in favour of a local NHS Homeopathic Specialist Clinic. Forms of evidence most influential to GPs regarding homeopathy were: randomised controlled trials; audit data on patient outcomes; safety and patient satisfaction.

Keywords

homeopathy - CAM - Scotland - General Practitioners - attitudes - integration - evidence-based medicine - quantitative

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