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Table 1 Social survey summary of each of the 32 target countries

From: The impact of uncertainty in society on the use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine: a comparative study on visits to alternative/traditional/folk health care practitioners

Countries Date of Collection Gross sample sizea Sample size Response rateb Min age Max age Mean age Analyzed samplec Survey methods Sampling methods Weight
Australia May 2012 - Aug 2012 6250 1946 31.1 18 97 55.1 1830 Postal survey (self-completion) Random sampling Yes
Belgium Apr 2011 - Dec 2012 8821 3083 35.0 17 95 49.7 2850 Face-to-face interview (CAPI) and mail survey Stratified two-stage random sampling and Simple random sampling Yes
Bulgaria Aug 2011 - Sep 2011 2275 1003 44.1 18 90 51.9 969 Face-to-face (PAPI) interview Three stage random sampling Yes
Chile Nov 2011 - Dec 2011 1872 1559 83.3 18 99 46.5 1436 Face-to-face interview Three stage random sampling Yes
China Jun 2011 - Nov 2011 7800 5620 72.1 17 97 47.8 5558 Face-to-face interview Multi-stage stratified sampling Yes
Taiwan Jul 2011 - Apr 2012 4424 2199 49.7 18 93 46.8 2196 Face-to-face interview (pencil and paper & CAPI) Three-stage stratified PPS sampling Yes
Croatia May 2011 - Jun 2011 2576 1210 47.0 18 87 45.6 1132 Face to face interview Multistage sampling No
Czech Republic Feb 2012 - Mar 2012 3230 1804 55.9 18 92 47.4 1696 Face-to-face interview Four stage stratified probability sampling Yes
Denmark Jan 2013 - Mar 2013 2500 1388 55.5 18 102 46.3 1364 Web based mail survey (self-completion) Simple random sampling No
Finland Aug 2011 - Dec 2011 2500 1340 53.6 15 75 46.2 1309 Postal, paper and pencil or internet survey (self-completion) Systematic sampling Yes
France Mar 2011 - Sep 2011 10,000 3319 33.2 18 95 52.1 3025 Postal survey Random equal probability sampling Yes
Germany Apr 2012 - Sep 2012 5103 1681 32.9 18 95 49.5 1632 Self-completion questionnaire (CASI) and face-to-face interview (CAPI) Two stage random sampling No
Israel Nov 2011 - Apr 2012 1594 1220 76.5 18 92 45.8 1084 Face to face interview Four stage stratified sampling No
Italy Oct 2012 - Feb 2013 5062 1186 23.4 16 92 50.7 1074 Self-completion questionnaire (paper and pencil) was delivered by interviewer and returned by mail Four stage stratified sampling Yes
Japan Nov 2011 - Dec 2011 1800 1306 72.6 16 100 50.5 1287 Self-completion Two-stage stratified random sampling No
South Korea Jun 2011 - Aug 2011 2500 1535 61.4 18 94 46.0 1535 Face-to-face interview Multi-stage area probability sampling No
Lithuania Nov 2011 - Dec 2011 3313 1187 35.8 18 87 47.7 1099 Face to face interview/paper and pencil interview (PAPI), with visuals Multistage stratified sampling Yes
Netherlands Mar 2011 - Dec 2011 4500 1472 32.7 17 97 54.0 1406 Postal survey Simple random sampling Yes
Norway Mar 2012 - Apr 2012 3800 1834 48.3 18 77 48.3 1789 Postal and web survey Random sampling No
Philippines Sep 2011 - Sep 2011 3206 1200 37.4 18 86 42.9 1167 Face-to-face interviews with visuals Multi-stage Probability Sampling Yes
Poland Apr 2013 - Apr 2013 2640 1115 42.2 18 88 47.8 1081 CAPI Multi-stage area probability sampling Yes
Portugal Nov 2012 - Apr 2013 2256 1022 45.3 18 93 51.6 968 CAPI Four stage area sampling Yes
Russia Dec 2011 - Dec 2011 3170 1511 47.7 18 96 48.1 1467 Face-to-face interviews Four stage stratified probability sampling Yes
Slovakia Oct 2012 - Dec 2012 2544 1128 44.3 18 92 51.9 1111 CAPI with visuals Two stage sampling Yes
Slovenia Mar 2011 - Jun 2011 1800 1082 60.1 18 99 48.6 1062 Personal interviews (pencil and paper with visuals) Two-stage stratified random sampling No
South Africa Sep 2011 - Oct 2011 3500 3004 85.8 16 95 40.6 2757 Face-to-face interview Multi-stage stratified sampling Yes
Spain May 2012 - Jul 2012 4000 2712 67.8 18 97 49.2 2622 Face-to-face interview Two phased, stratified by clusters. Proportional random sampling Yes
Sweden Feb 2011 - May 2011 1966 1158 58.9 18 80 50.0 1087 Postal survey A representative sample of the Swedish population No
Switzerland Mar 2011 - Nov 2011 2409 1212 50.3 19 98 48.9 1192 CAPI Simple random sampling No
Turkey Nov 2011 - Jan 2012 3150 1559 49.5 17 92 42.1 1398 Face-to-face interview with visuals Multi-stage area sampling No
UK Jul 2011 - Nov 2011 2260 936 41.4 17 97 49.7 897 Face-to-face interview and postal survey (self-completion) Clustered random sampling Yes
US Mar 2012 - Sep 2012 2044 1550 75.8 20 89 50.0 1512 Face-to-face interview with CAPI Multi-stage area probability sample Yes
Total Mar 2011 - Mar 2013 114,865 55,081 48.0 15 102 48.3 52,592    
  1. CAPI Computer-Assisted Personal Interview, PAPI Paper-And-Pencil Interview, PPS Probability Proportional to the Size
  2. aTotal number of starting target subjects
  3. bThe proportion of number of respondents to gross sample size (%)
  4. cA flow chart demonstrates the process through which the TCAM practitioner usage, age, and sex were excluded in Fig. 1. The excluding process for each country has been shown in Additional file 1: Table S1
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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

ISSN: 2662-7671

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