Title
Factors associated with the perception of scientific evidence regarding homeopathy in a group of general practitioners from Peru
Other title
[Factores asociados a la percepción de la validez científica de la homeopatía en un grupo de médicos generales de Perú]
Date Issued
01 January 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Abstract
Introduction: Homeopathy is a widely used therapy in different parts of the world. However, its effectiveness has not been scientifically proven. Objective: To assess the factors associated with the perception of homeopathy scientific valid-ity in Peruvian general practice (GP) physicians. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional analytical study. A group of GP physicians who at-tended training and career guidance courses on medical specialties and residencies offered by Colegio Médico del Perú (Medical Association of Peru) in 2017 were asked to complete a self-ad-ministered survey. The main study variable was evaluated using the following question: Do you consider that homeopathy effectiveness has been scientifically proven? Prevalence ratios (PR) and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR), as well as their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated to assess the factors associated with considering homeopathy effectiveness as scientifically proven. Results: 285 GP physicians completed the survey (55.1% were women; median age: 28 years); 67.4% reported having heard about homeopathy, and out of these, 22.5% considered that homeopathy effectiveness was scientifically proven. Perceiving this type of therapy as scientifically valid was more frequent in women (aPR:1.80, 95%CI:1.03-3.16) and less frequent in those who had published at least one scientific paper (aPR:0.23, 95%CI:0.06-0.88). Conclusions: Almost a quarter of the physicians who had heard about homeopathy considered that this therapy had been scientifically proven. This might be caused by gaps in their medical training regarding alternative and complementary medicine therapies, and the influence that non-formal education has on decision-making.
Start page
215
End page
221
Volume
68
Issue
2
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
Otros temas de medicina clínica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85089705851
Source
Revista Facultad de Medicina
ISSN of the container
01200011
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus