[Socio-demographic and soci-professional profile of holistic therapists in Quebec]

A descriptive study of practitioners of holistic therapies in Quebec was done using a questionnaire mailed to the 954 therapists advertising publicly their services. The response rate was 37.9%. This paper presents the sociodemographic and socio-professional data collected. According to the findings, holistic therapists can be found in almost all regions of Quebec with higher concentrations in large urban centers. Their group is almost equally composed of men (51.7%) and women (48.0%) with an age mean of 40.1 years and with a mean of 7 years of experience in their practice. The practice of holistic therapies is the main occupation of most of these practitioners who use a very wide variety of therapies. Acupuncture and its derivatives followed by various types of massotherapies and naturopathy are the most commonly advertised therapies. The great majority of these therapists work in private practice and their average income before deductions was $21,856.38. Due to the legal status of these practices, 10.3% of the respondents declared they had been the object of lawsuits on the part of a professional corporation.