The

Aurum Project

Commitment to the Healthand Wellbeing of Children

The AHA is the peak body for homeopathy in Australia.

Acknowledgements HomeoStats: for the study software

Helene Deizel (PRACI): advice and fruitful discussions

AHA: Grant and further financial support

ARoH: CPD for participants and data on profession

Michael Cowdroy (Duozmedia): for the graphic, web design and online support for this survey

survey METHODOLOGY

future work

AIMS Establish demographics of homeopathic practice

Contemporary homeopathic practice in Australia had not been formally measured. An innovative mixed methods study was designed to describe homeopathy practice. For the first time, formal research was conducted to assess practice diversity and demographics of homeopaths and their patients across many clinics all over our continent.

This approach was chosen to create high external validity. It minimised the impact of the researcher’s preconceived theories about what happens in practice, and reduced the disturbance to practice that occurs when recording activity in real time.

This project has Human Ethics Approval HREC20181005.

AssumptionsPatients seen once a month

IT platform might be an obstacle to participation

“Too busy/not busy enough” might exclude participation

Homeopaths demoralised and marginalised by Australian strategic attacks on profession

LimitationsDid not assess style or influence of case taking model used

Did not assess influence of homeopath’s experience on treatment outcomes

ICPC2 reflects the patient diagnosis but doesn’t explain the source or origin of this diagnosis

The survey was conducted 28 January 2019 - 22 March 2019. Homeopaths registered through the Aurum Project Survey registration page prior to the start of the survey.

Initially 69 homeopaths (63 women & 6 men) took part in the survey. Four homeopaths withdrew from the survey during the survey period. Participation required ARoH registration.

Homeopaths provided their age, gender, state/location of practice, contact details, and ARoH registration number. The homeopaths and their patients provided written informed consent. Patients and homeopaths were free to leave the survey at any time.

Homeopaths were asked to determine the main complaint from each case using the International Classification of Primary Care 2 (ICPC2). There were 112 conditions recorded, in 19 broad classifications. Remedy and potency were recorded. More than one complaint could be recorded for each visit.

Data was collected using a purpose-built platform, HomeoStats. For anonymity, patients were allocated a random six digit identifier.

HomeoStats > Patient List > 160749

Add Visit Edit patient details Delete this patient

160749

Date of birth April 10, 1755

Gender Male

Resident of Australia - (NSW)

Ethnicity Germany

VisitsDate

March 1, 2018

Homeopaths and patients were provided with comprehensive information packs, weekly support messages and extensive online FAQ support. Throughout the survey period, homeopaths recorded the following data about their participating patients:

• demographic data – age, gender, ethnicity• presenting condition as defined by ICPC2• remedies and potencies prescribedAny extra information was recorded in a ‘notes’ section.

New Visit (160749)Date:

Complaints:

Prescribed remedies:

Notes:

21-07-2018

Required. Enter in the form dd-mm-yyyy e.g. 23-03-2012

Complaint Group Complaint

Remedy Potency (optional)

Optional This information is not visible to other users.

Complaint I Response from last visit

Remedy I Potency

Co�ea Cruda 30C Delete

Sleep disorders/insomnia No Change Update Delete

Conjunctivitis New Complaint Update Delete

Add a complaint

Add a Remedy

---------- -------------------- Add this complaint

Add this remedy

Save Visit

apis 200C

HomeoStats > 160749 > New Visit

Does gender play a part in

practice?Being female means you are more likely to see a homeopath, who is more likely to

be a woman.

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

Male Female

Percentage of mental health visits by condition and gender

Not Specified

GAD

PTSD

Depression

All otherConditions

Alzheimer's Disease 0.3%Brain Injury 0.8%Dementia 0.5%Depression 14.4%Dyslexia 0.3%Eating Disorders 1.1%Epilepsy 1.1%Generalised Anxiety Disorder 28.8%Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 0.8%Other Mental Health Condition 38.7%Panic Attack 3.7%Personality Disorder 1.6%Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 6.1%Schizophrenia 0.3%Separation Anxiety 1.6%

FINDINGS

MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS

First Survey

of Australian Homeopathy

OVER 8 WEEKS1447Total visits 65 Homeopaths [

59 women

6 men

MENTAL HEALTH visits during

survey375

data driven QUESTIONS• Did patients come with a diagnosis?• How much does the style of case taking influence the results?

Ears

21

Vertigo

7

Eyes 15

Head

28

Face

25

Lungs

65

Endocrine

65

Kidney 11

Throat

29

G.I.T.

123

Nervous

19

First Aid

9

112

Skin

134

Muscle

64

Nose

42

Heart

12

General

153

Mind 375 People present to homeopaths with a broad spectrum of conditions as defined by ICPC2.

112 different conditions were recorded in 19 main categories with 1227 visits, in an 8 week period. 220 visits had no primary condition recorded in HomeoStats.

SA NSW QLD VIC WA

6050403020100

0102030405060

Survey Sample Validity

AH

A* s

ampl

e %

S

urve

y sa

mpl

e %

*AHA data 2018 membership

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 1 - 20 21 - 40 41 - 60 61 - 80

Number of patient visits for mental health

Num

ber o

f Hom

eopa

ths

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Perc

enta

ge o

f Vis

its b

y G

ende

r

Female Male

Survey had high participation rate

Data recording had minimal impact on homeopaths ‘normal’ practice activity

Second survey:• Include a patient self reflection measure (MYMOP2)• Evaluate remedy prescription• Expand selection criteria for homeopaths to participate and include:

- Non-registered homeopaths - Other general health practitioners (naturopathy/

nutrition/osteopathy/ registered nurse etc)• Include type of homeopathy approach used in clinic• Explore winter period instead of summer which is a peak holiday period• Level of education recorded for both patient and homeopath• Number of modalities practiced by homeopath• Number of years in practice for homeopath• Number of years in practice for complementary medicine or other allied health activity.

Australian national charity promoting and conducting homeopathy and natural therapies research

107/20 Dale Street Brookvale NSW 2100 612 9905 9415 https://aurumproject.org.au info@aurumproject.org.au

National Survey Research TeamGabrielle Brodie 1 Dr Celeste Salter 2 Linlee Jordan 3 Lorena Mattiolo 4 Dr David Levy 5 Shilpa Bhouraskar 6 Ann Manning 7

Number of visits over 8 weeks

Perc

enta

ge o

f Pat

ient

s

Male

Female

35 Homeopaths saw patients with Mental Health as the primary condition.

316

5 2

7

Thank you to all of the participating homeopaths for their outstanding effort and true commitment during a time when Australian homeopathy needs them most.

ReferencesAustralian Homœopathic Association. (2019). Registrars Report 2003 - 2018. Unpublished data.

Greenland, J. (2017). Marginalising homœopathy: an Australian case study, Prometheus, 35(3), 171-192. doi:10.1080/ 08109028.2018.1472361

Lewis, M. (2019). De-Legitimising Complementary Medicine : Framings of the Friends of Science in Medicine - CAM Debate in Australian media reports, Sociology of Health & Illness, 41(3).1-21. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12865

Semby, M and Rowe T. (2014). American Homeopathic Patient Survey 2014, American Medical College of Homeopathy Department of Research.

Steel, A., Adams, J and Sibbritt, D. (2014). Developing a multi-modality complementary medicine practice-based research network: The PRACI project. Adv. Integrative. Med, 1(3), 113 - 118. doi:10.1016/J.AIMED.2014.11.003

Thompson, E., Viksveen, P., & Barron, S. (2016). A patient reported outcome measure in homeopathic clinical practice for long-term conditions. Homeopathy, 105(4), 309–317. doi: 10.1016/j.homp.2016.05.001

Treuherz, F. (2000). Homeopathy in general practice: a descriptive report of work with 500 consecutive patients, Br Homeopath J, 89(S 01): S43. doi: 10.1054/homp.1999.0383

World Health Organisation ICPC2 - https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/adaptations/icpc2/en/ Accessed https://www.who.int

primary condition (number of visits)