Background
Despite the substantial size of the maturing complementary medicine (CM) industry, the technologies used by practitioners have received little research attention. In the clinical delivery of homeopathy services, repertory software can be employed to cross-reference client symptoms with numerous databases, making the process of seeking a clinical intervention quicker and more accurate. The purpose of the study is to learn about the quantitative patterns of usage, uptake and attitudes to repertory software amongst professional homeopaths.
Methods
An online cross-sectional survey of 15 questions was completed by practicing professional homeopaths between August 2016 and May 2017, using non-probability snowball sampling. Questions gathered demographic information, reflections and attitudes on the use of electronic repertories in clinical homeopathy practice.
Conclusion
This preliminary study presents some potentially significant uptake, usage and attitude markers that stand to shed light on the practice of homeopathy and the place of emerging technologies such as repertory software. Ultimately, more research is needed to help identify and address the challenges, risks and tensions around integration of practice-enhancing technologies in CM educational and clinical settings to best serve the diverse and changing needs of practitioners.