Illness Beliefs and Health Services Utilization
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Chih, Pei-Yu
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Abstract
This study aims to examine the relationship between illness beliefs and health services utilization, or more specifically, exploring illness attributions and medicalization beliefs in relation to the use of a wide range of health services.
Data for this study were derived from “Taiwan social change survey” of 2000. Based on PPS sampling, this nation-wide survey interviewed adults 20 years and older and finally collected valid data from 1895 adults, which constituted a response rate of 53.74%.
The major findings are:
1. Strong associations were found between individuals’ sociodemographic characteristics and illness beliefs. Variables like sex, age, education, religion, income and residential areas were all associated significantly with medicalization beliefs and illness attributions.
2. Medicalization beliefs were significantly related to use of tonics and “pacifying Taisui,” a type folk medicine, but illness attribution only had strong impact on the use of three folk modalities, i.e., visiting spiritual practitioners or Shamen, practicing Fengshui, and Pacifying Taisui.
3. By using logistic regression and multivariate logistic regressions, after controlling for the effects of sociodemographic characteristics and health status variables, neither medicalization beliefs nor illness attributions had significant impacts on health services utilization, both analyzed individually for each type of service or while they were combined into a single variable, except the relationship between illness beliefs and taking non-western medicine, practicing Fengshui, Pacifying Taisui.
Due to the limitation caused by using secondary data, the deficiency in the quality of measurement for illness attributions and medicalization beliefs was discussed. It is suggested that theoretical models for health services utilization or health-seeking behavior should include cognitive constructs to improve their explanatory and predictive power.
Subjects
疾病信念
醫療化
疾病歸因
健康服務利用
求醫行為
illness beliefs
medicalization
illness attributions
health services utilization
health-seeking behavior
Type
thesis
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