Exploring the correlates of self-provided health care behaviour

Self-care has been characterized as the basic level of health care in all societies. However, little is known about existing self-care behaviour. Although it is clear that laypersons do indeed routinely self-evaluate and self-treat many of their health problems as a part of daily living, the nature and extent of these self-care practices are not well understood. It is not clear whether self-care behaviour is equally prevalent among different social groups; whether self-care is used for both health maintenance and the treatment of illness; and whether self-care is used only in response to selected symptomatic conditions. More studies of general lay populations are needed to provide this type of information. Particularly, studies which recognize that laypersons are not only consumers of professional care, but are also primary providers and active participants in the health care process. The purpose of the present study was to identify the range of self-care practices used at this time by Canadians and to explore some of the correlates of this behaviour. Data were obtained in 1983 through personal interviews with a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of 524 residents of Winnipeg, Canada. The dimensions of self-care investigated were: symptomatic self-treatment responses; recent self-medication activity; and the use of home remedies. Potential correlates considered include: sociodemographics; perceived health status; understanding of medical knowledge; attitudes toward medical care; and health maintenance/lifestyle beliefs and internal preventive control beliefs. A correlational analysis was performed to test the nature and strength of the association between all of the variables measured. Next, stepwise multiple regression was used to identify the best set of predictors of each of the self-care behaviours and hierarchical regression was used to assess the amount of variance explained by subsets of the correlates (e.g. sociodemographics, beliefs, attitudes). The results suggest that selected social characteristics and skeptical attitudes toward doctors may be important correlates of self-care. However, in view of the diverse nature of self-care behaviour it seems unlikely that a single set of factors will be able to explain all forms of self-provided health care. The paper concludes with a discussion of personal and professional responsibility for health and implications for self-care research.