Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 161
Along with acupuncture, homoeopathy is one of the forms of complementary medicine most commonly practised by doctors in the UK. The aim of this study is to understand what attracts doctors to homoeopathy and how their engagement with it has affected their clinical practice, both practically and philosophically.
A qualitative interview study based on a purposive sample of 18 medical doctors with homoeopathic qualifications, comprising six general practitioners (GPs), six former GPs that now practice only homoeopathy, three ‘career’ homoeopaths in private practice, a palliative physician working as an NHS consultant homoeopath and two doctors that have abandoned the practice of homoeopathy. All interviews were semistructured and were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a constant comparative method. Techniques from narrative analysis were also employed.
Findings will be presented around a series of typical ‘narratives of engagement’ based on original quotations. From these will be extracted a range of significant themes. These include ‘seminal moments’, the role of particular teachers, the attractions of the homoeopathic model of health and disease, working with disparate models in practice, giving up general practice, and explaining and researching homoeopathy.
Based on a preliminary analysis, this study shows that experienced medical doctors can provide coherent accounts for why they have engaged in homoeopathy. Homoeopathy may not be compatible with general practice. Doctors are generally perplexed by the mechanism of action of homoeopathic remedies and believe in the need to integrate homoeopathy with conventional treatments.
