Use during follow-up: Infection/lowered immunity attributions were associated with higher use for patients with a chronic disorder, whereas psychosocial and lifestyle attributions were associated with higher use for all patients. A strong illness identity (number of self-reported symptoms), illness worry, a long timeline perspective, a belief that the symptoms would have serious consequences, and all emotional distress variables were associated with higher use. Accident/chance attributions were associated with higher use for patients with a chronic disorder but with lower use for patients without a chronic disorder.
Previous use: Higher use was associated with psychosocial, stress, and lifestyle attributions. Linear regression analysis was performed to examine if illness perceptions predicted later health care use. Odds ratios were estimated to examine associations between previous health care use and illness perceptions. Register data on primary health care utilization 3 years before and 2 years after baseline were obtained. The physicians completed a questionnaire for each patient on diagnostics and prognostics.
Patients completed a questionnaire on their illness perceptions and emotional distress before the consultation. One thousand seven hundred eighty-five patients presenting a new health problem to 1 of 38 physicians from 28 general practices in Aarhus County, Denmark.
To investigate if primary care patients' perceptions of a current health problem were associated with use of health care.
0 kommentar(er)
