Integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine into Family Practices in Germany: Results of a National Survey

Table 1

Basic characteristics of responding FPs.

	Our sample	Other samples
Gender (n)
F	40%	39.5%^a
M	59%	60.5%^a
Age (years)	51.3 (min. 30, max. 71)	51.2^a
Years of work in practice	15.2 (min. 1, max. 36)	Data not available
Structure of practice (n)
Solo practice	525 (51%)	68%^b
Location of practice (n)
City	562 (55%)	50%^b
Privately insured patients per practice (%)	12%	Data not available
Qualifications of FPs (n)
Acupuncture	318 (31%)	Data not available^c
Naturopathy	221 (21%)	8–18%^d
Chiropractic	158 (15%)	8–20%^d
Homeopathy	88 (9%)	3–8%^d
Balneology	33 (3%)	1–3%^d
Physical therapy	19 (2%)	2–4%^d

^aGerman Physician sample 2006; Source: National Association of SHI-Accredited Physicians [22].
^bSample of the Commonwealth-Fund-Survey 2006 [26, 27].
^cSince acupuncture was newly accredited by the German federal medical current data are not available. It is estimated that around 30–40% of FPs had a training course in acupuncture.
^dExact data not available; numbers calculated from data of the German Physician sample 2006.