Attitudes toward Self-Care: A Consumer Study

Although self-care is emerging as a growing movement wherein lay persons are assuming more responsibility for prevention, detection and treatment of health problems, we have almost no basic descriptive studies of attitudes toward self-care of professionals and consumers. The present study explored t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical care 1980-08, Vol.18 (8), p.872-877
Main Authors: Green, Kathy E., Moore, Stephen H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude scales
Attitude to Health
California
Communications
Correlations
Diseases
Health care costs
Health outcomes
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Medical conditions
Patient care
Personal Health Services - statistics & numerical data
Physicians
Political attitudes
Self Care - psychology
Telephone interviews
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Summary:Although self-care is emerging as a growing movement wherein lay persons are assuming more responsibility for prevention, detection and treatment of health problems, we have almost no basic descriptive studies of attitudes toward self-care of professionals and consumers. The present study explored the reliability and validity of an attitude instrument designed to assess consumers' attitudes toward self-care and also its sensitivity to group differences in attitudes. A scale constructed for use with a provider population was revised and administered by telephone interview to 245 families in central California. Attitudes were found to be favorable. The scale's internal consistency reliability was calculated and found to be .65 (Cronbach's alpha); mean attitudes of three treatment groups were found to differ significantly. In view of the scale's moderate reliability, it is suggested that the scale be revised to provide a more sensitive discrimination of favorable attitudes.
ISSN:0025-7079
1537-1948
DOI:10.1097/00005650-198008000-00009