Background: In India, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, namely ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha, homeopathy and amchi/sowa-rigpa/Tibetan medicine (AYUSH), are being integrated into mainstream health care; however, public opinion on this integrated model has not been evaluated.
Objectives: To evaluate patients' satisfaction following integration of homeopathy into mainstream health care, attitudes towards integrated services and satisfaction following consultation with homeopaths.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in November 2014 involving 456 patients visiting five integrated homeopathy clinics across four northern districts in West Bengal, India. A 14-item self-administered questionnaire, comprising four-point Likert scale response sets (i.e. 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree) and written in local vernacular Bengali, was used to address the above objective.
Results: Of the patients surveyed, 98.8% were satisfied with the integrated services and disclosed a high level of satisfaction (86.3% of maximum score) following consultation with homeopaths. Although the patients preferred that allopaths to have knowledge of homeopathy, they did not prefer them to prescribe homeopathic medicines. In-house referrals were found to be compromised. Higher educational status and referrals seemed to influence satisfaction and attitude scores significantly (P<0.05), while satisfaction scores following consultation remained uninfluenced by suspected variables.
Conclusion: When formulating strategies for integrated CAM models in India, patient preferences should be evaluated with reasonable importance.