Study title

Finnish Views on Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3372

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3372

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• University of Tampere
• Taloustutkimus

Abstract

The study examined Finnish views of alternative treatment methods and complementary therapy.

First, the respondents were presented with a variety of treatment methods, and they were asked whether they believed that they could be used to treat illnesses or conditions (e.g. surgical operations, over-the-counter drugs, herbal medicines, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic, hypnosis, diet, prayer). The respondents were also asked which of the treatments they or members of their family had personally used or tried as well as to what extent they had proven helpful.

Next, the respondents were presented with the following statements with regard to a set of alternative treatments: whether the treatment should be generally accepted as a method of treatment, whether it should be regulated by legislation, whether the provider of the treatment should be liable for any damage caused, and whether providing the treatment to children or the seriously ill should be restricted by law. Finally, the respondents were asked which complementary or alternative treatments they had used in the previous 12 months.

Background variables included, among others, gender, age, household composition, income group, economic activity and occupational status, educational level, region of residence, number of inhabitants in municipality of residence, number of persons living in the household, and number and ages of children living in the household.

Keywords

acupuncture; chiropractic; complementary therapies; herbal medicine; homeopathy; medical sciences; medical treatment methods; naturopathy

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Medical and health sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Medication and treatment (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (A) openly available for all users without registration (CC BY 4.0).

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2018-04-06 – 2018-04-23

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15 - 79 residing in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

Data collection was conducted using a random start method: First, quotas were formed using computer-generated starting addresses based on major region, type of municipality, age and gender. Approximately 200 starting addresses were generated for 1000 interviews. The interviewer conducted five interviews along the same street (or in the same apartment building), starting with the next round number from the starting address and advancing from there. If the door was not answered, the interviewer moved on to the next house/apartment. Only one person could respond from each household, and each person could only participate once per year in the omnibus survey. The interviewer first asked the respondent's age and gender, and if the respondent did not fulfill the requirements of the quota (or declined), the interviewer would ask if there was someone else in the household that could respond to the survey. Some interviews were conducted in public spaces in six addresses of three cities: the interviewer approached passers-by and asked for their region of residence, age and gender before interviewing.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English and Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

180 variables and 2036 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3371 Finnish Views on Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2008

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data were collected in two different collections in April (n=1020) and May (n=1016) with different respondents. In the April data collection, there was a mistake in the programming of question 4 in the questionnaire. The question was supposed to accept multiple response alternatives but accepted only one. In April, the first 909 respondents used the faulty questionnaire (their responses to question 4 are in variables q4_1-q4_8), after which the mistake was corrected, and the responses of the remaining 111 respondents to question 4 are in another set of variables (q4a_1-6, q4b_1-6, q4c_1-6, q4d_1-6, q4e_1-6, q4f_1-6, q4g_1-6, q4h_1-6). In the May data collection, respondents only responded to q4-q5 and background variables. Therefore, several variables are missing a considerable number of values. At FSD, a "data collection round" variable (kierros) was formed to separate respondents in different data collection rounds.

To prevent identification of respondents, municipality of residence was removed from the data during archiving, and variable bv22 (number of persons in household) was top-coded. Open-ended responses were reviewed at FSD and anonymised where necessary; removals of identifiers were marked with [square brackets].

Weighting

There is a weight variable in the data (paino) that weights the data to be representative of the Finnish population aged 15 - 79 (in thousands).

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

University of Tampere & Taloustutkimus: Finnish Views on Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2018 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2020-05-19). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3372

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Keski-Hallila, S. (2018). Kuluttajien näkemykset täydentävistä ja vaihtoehtoisista hoidoista -vertailu 2008 ja 2018. Raportti. Helsinki: Taloustutkimus Oy

Related Publications

Vuolanto, P., Kemppainen, L., Kemppainen, T., & Nurmi, J. (2020). Täydentävien ja vaihtoehtoisten (CAM) hoitojen käyttö Suomessa. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen Aikakauslehti, 57(1). doi: 10.23990/sa.80288

Keski-Hallila, S. (2018). Kuluttajien näkemykset täydentävistä ja vaihtoehtoisista hoidoista -vertailu 2008 ja 2018. Raportti. Helsinki: Taloustutkimus Oy

Aarva, Pauliina (2019). Täydentävät hoidot. Helsinki : Viisas Elämä.