Homeopathy: Treatment seeking behavior among semi-urban population in Chennai

Abstract

Aims and objective: To assess the Treatment seeking behavior of homeopathy among 30-55 age group population in semi urban Chennai. Settings and design: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2019 To September 2019 in the semi-urban area of Poonamalle, Chennai. Materials and Methods: A total of 220 study participants were selected by cluster sampling and between the age group of 30 -55 were interviewed by semi-structure questionnaire.Results: The finding of the study shows that majorities (31%) of respondents were graduated. Socio-economically, the majority of them belong to the lower-middle-class group. Most of the participants were housewives. The majority of respondents know about homeopathy via treatments of friends and family (39%), TV & Newspaper (39%).Minimal number of the study people (44.1%) believed homeopathy medicine is working and it having curative power. But the majority of study peoples replied that homeopathic treatment system is not very common in a few public, indicating the need for more public awareness on it. Majority of study people (70.5%) not taking homeopathy due to lack of awareness of homeopathy treatment, lack of government hospital department for homeopathy treatment and non-availability of homeopathy pharmacy.Conclusion: Major lack of awareness is due to lack of availability homeopathy clinics and pharmacies in rural and semi-urban areas. So, increasing the availability helpful for homeopathy easily reaches every corner of the rural and semi-urban area. Every homeopath should take major responsibility to create awareness and helps the people to get better treatment in homeopathy.