Abstract
Complementary Medicine is a general term used when describing interventions applied in conjunction with or as an alternative to conventional medicine. Complementary medicine can be used when addressing and treating a plethora of chronic and acute physiological and mental conditions. With its ever increasing wide-spread global popularity, more and more funding and expenditure has been spent on both complementary medicine practitioners and products alike. However, this global snowballing effect differs in various regions. A study conducted in Durban, Southern Africa, indicated that 38.5% of participants actively used complementary medicine, and 79% of those participants were pleased with the outcome and result. Another comparable study, conducted in Australia, denoted that 75% of the population had used some form of complementary medicine. There are a vast array of modalities that exist under the umbrella of complementary medicine, including Homoeopathy, Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine. Currently organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medicines Control Council (MCC) are employed with the task of developing a regulatory system to ensure the safety, efficacy and quality of complementary medicine that can be incorporated into healthcare systems worldwide. Keeping in line with the above and the surge of prevalence complementary medicine has exhibited to date, a thorough analysis of the current complementary medicine status quo in different communities may contribute toward future complementary medicine related education and marketing strategies. To date, there have been limited studies conducted in South Africa with regards to the opinions and perceptions of complementary medicine, and no studies have been conducted in the East Rand of Gauteng.
The aim of this study was to determine the opinions and perceptions about complementary medicine by users in selected health shops in the East Rand of Gauteng.
This study was conducted by means of a survey; 300 questionnaires were available for completion at 9 different health stores in the East Rand of Gauteng. Participants completed the questionnaires in a private setting and returned them back to the researcher once done. Out of the 300 questionnaires that were available, 256 were completed and analysed.
Results from this study were in accordance with similar studies done locally and internationally and found that a ‘typical’ complementary medicine user in the East Rand of Gauteng is a white female, aged between 26 and 45, who works in the health and fitness industry, has some tertiary education and who has a monthly household income of between R15 000 and R20 000 per month. Users generally have good health and seek advice about complementary medicines from...
M.Tech. (Homoeopathy)