Etat des lieux de l'homéopathie en Belgique - KCE

KCE Reports 154 Homeopathy 21
3 USE OF HOMEOPATHY IN BELGIUM
3.1 SURVEY AMONG THE POPULATION
3.1.1 Objective
This section aims to measure the prevalence, utilisation and reasons for resorting to
alternative medicines, and in particular to homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and
osteopathy.
3.1.2 Methods
3.1.2.1 Organization
The Phonecom company conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of
1999 adults in Belgium from December 2009 to January 2010 by using a CATI
(Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) software.
3.1.2.2 Sampling
The source file used to survey home phone subscriptors was the CD-ROM infobel®
2009. A purely random selection was operated on the totality of the numbers available
in Belgium. The people registered on the Robinson list were automatically excluded
from this file, in accordance with the code of conduct of the BDMA (Belgian Direct
Marketting Association). In order to survey the mobile phone holders, series of
numbers of GSM were also randomly created and called.
On a total of 10.000 calls at the beginning, 1999 valid questionnaires were used for the
analysis. Eligible people had to be older than 18.
3.1.2.3 Quota
A mixed method of quota sampling and stratified sampling was used by Phonecom.
Quotas are presented in appendice with data from the National institute of statistics.
3.1.2.4 Weighting
The sample distribution was similar to the census distribution for age, sex and region of
the country (provinces). We weighted the data for education to match our sample to
the distribution of the Belgian census.
3.1.2.5 Questionnaire
The questionnaire combines mainly questions resulting from two national surveys
published in the JAMA and in the New England Journal of Medicine 64, 65 . Other more
recent national survey questionnaires carried out in Japan 66 , in Australia 67 and in the
United Kingdom 68 were also used. We asked respondents to report on:
a. their demographic and health status,
b. the frequency of use of alternative medicine (during lifetime and the preceding
year),
c. the medical reasons of their visits,
d. the global attitudes towards the use of alternative medicine (alternative or
complementary, depending on reimbursement),
e. The characteristics of their unconventional therapist (diploma, accessibility,
charges for visits and treatments),
f. Satisfaction with conventional and unconventional therapist,
g. Health representation (need for control).
Parents were asked similar questions about their children’s health status, frequency of
use and medical reasons.
3.1.2.6 Characteristics of the respondents
The sociodemographic characteristics of the survey population weighted for education
are shown in appendix.