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Why do parents take their children to homeopaths? -- an exploratory qualitative study

Why do parents take their children to homeopaths? -- an exploratory qualitative study
Why do parents take their children to homeopaths? -- an exploratory qualitative study
Background: There has been a threefold increase in the proportion of children among patients visiting homeopaths in Norway from 1985 to 1998. As no study has investigated the reasons for this increase, the aim of the present study was to explore why parents take their children to homeopaths.
Participants and Methods: In this qualitative study, parents who had taken their child to a homeopath for the first time during the last 3 months were interviewed in depth using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis based on techniques from grounded theory.
Results: 9 parents were interviewed. Parents consulted a medical doctor to clarify how serious their child’s health condition was, and sought treatment from a homeopath if the symptoms were not dangerous. Personal recommendations or personal experience of homeopathy were identified as being a main factor that triggered seeking treatment specifically from a homeopath. The reasons they sought an alternative, or rather complement, to conventional medical treatment were: they did not wish to give their child allopathic medication; they wanted to find an alternative treatment to their child’s currently prescribed allopathic medication; they had ceased conventional medication due to its side effects; to obtain treatment whilst waiting for a problem to be assessed; or they were not offered any treatment by their medical doctor.
Conclusion: Parents took their child to a homeopath due to experiences with the medical encounter or treatment and due to recommendations or own personal experience.
parents, adult, patients, parent-child relations, norway, research support, methods, treatment, child, time, research, female, health, interviews as topic, male, homeopathy, analysis
1424-7364
88-93
Steinsbekk, A.
ca733612-e204-47d6-92c7-67981fce2f8b
Bentzen, N.
2d2e9948-b46b-4ba7-9bcf-8140917d98dd
Brien, S.
4e8e97cd-7bc3-4efd-857e-20790040b80f
Steinsbekk, A.
ca733612-e204-47d6-92c7-67981fce2f8b
Bentzen, N.
2d2e9948-b46b-4ba7-9bcf-8140917d98dd
Brien, S.
4e8e97cd-7bc3-4efd-857e-20790040b80f

Steinsbekk, A., Bentzen, N. and Brien, S. (2006) Why do parents take their children to homeopaths? -- an exploratory qualitative study. Research in Complementary and Classical Natural Medicine, 13 (2), 88-93. (doi:10.1159/000092004).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: There has been a threefold increase in the proportion of children among patients visiting homeopaths in Norway from 1985 to 1998. As no study has investigated the reasons for this increase, the aim of the present study was to explore why parents take their children to homeopaths.
Participants and Methods: In this qualitative study, parents who had taken their child to a homeopath for the first time during the last 3 months were interviewed in depth using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis based on techniques from grounded theory.
Results: 9 parents were interviewed. Parents consulted a medical doctor to clarify how serious their child’s health condition was, and sought treatment from a homeopath if the symptoms were not dangerous. Personal recommendations or personal experience of homeopathy were identified as being a main factor that triggered seeking treatment specifically from a homeopath. The reasons they sought an alternative, or rather complement, to conventional medical treatment were: they did not wish to give their child allopathic medication; they wanted to find an alternative treatment to their child’s currently prescribed allopathic medication; they had ceased conventional medication due to its side effects; to obtain treatment whilst waiting for a problem to be assessed; or they were not offered any treatment by their medical doctor.
Conclusion: Parents took their child to a homeopath due to experiences with the medical encounter or treatment and due to recommendations or own personal experience.

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More information

Published date: February 2006
Keywords: parents, adult, patients, parent-child relations, norway, research support, methods, treatment, child, time, research, female, health, interviews as topic, male, homeopathy, analysis

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 62148
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/62148
ISSN: 1424-7364
PURE UUID: 52b56791-37bd-4c68-a3d8-f92bd2c65242
ORCID for S. Brien: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1120-2364

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 10 Sep 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:20

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Contributors

Author: A. Steinsbekk
Author: N. Bentzen
Author: S. Brien ORCID iD

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