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Self-treatment and its discussion in medical consultations: how is medical pluralism managed in practice?

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  • Stevenson, Fiona A.
  • Britten, Nicky
  • Barry, Christine A.
  • Bradley, Colin P.
  • Barber, Nick

Abstract

Recent policy changes in the UK such as deregulation of prescribed medicines and the introduction of telephone helpline services are intended to promote self-treatment. Drawing on interviews with, and consultations between, 35 patients and 20 general practitioners, we use Kleinman's (Patients and Healers in the context of culture: an exploration of the Borderland between Anthropology, Medicine and Psychiatry, University of California Press Ltd., London) model of the three sectors of health care in order to examine the range of self-treatments people use and the discussion of these treatments in medical consultations. We argue that despite the availability of a range of treatment options and policy changes advocating greater use of self-treatment, patients are inhibited from disclosing prior self-treatment, and disclosure is affected by patients' perceptions of the legitimacy of self-treatment. The findings are in keeping with Cant and Sharma's (A New Medical Pluralism, Alternative Medicines, Doctors, Patients and the State, UCL Press, London) contention that although there has been a pluralisation of "legitimate" providers of health care and a restructuring of expertise, biomedicine itself remains dominant.

Suggested Citation

  • Stevenson, Fiona A. & Britten, Nicky & Barry, Christine A. & Bradley, Colin P. & Barber, Nick, 2003. "Self-treatment and its discussion in medical consultations: how is medical pluralism managed in practice?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 513-527, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:57:y:2003:i:3:p:513-527
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Greenhalgh, Trisha & Robb, Nadia & Scambler, Graham, 2006. "Communicative and strategic action in interpreted consultations in primary health care: A Habermasian perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 1170-1187, September.
    2. Gately, Claire & Rogers, Anne & Sanders, Caroline, 2007. "Re-thinking the relationship between long-term condition self-management education and the utilisation of health services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 934-945, September.
    3. Rui Wang & Chenjin Ma & Kun Jiang & Ming Li & Shuangge Ma, 2018. "Descriptions of self-treatment for the middle-aged and elderly in Shanxi, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Ahmed, Syed Masud & Petzold, Max & Kabir, Zarina Nahar & Tomson, Göran, 2006. "Targeted intervention for the ultra poor in rural Bangladesh: Does it make any difference in their health-seeking behaviour?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 2899-2911, December.
    5. Green, Gill & Bradby, Hannah & Chan, Anita & Lee, Maggie, 2006. ""We are not completely Westernised": Dual medical systems and pathways to health care among Chinese migrant women in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1498-1509, March.
    6. Ceuterick, Melissa & Vandebroek, Ina, 2017. "Identity in a medicine cabinet: Discursive positions of Andean migrants towards their use of herbal remedies in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 43-51.
    7. Williams, Brian & Steven, Karen & Sullivan, Frank M., 2011. "Tacit and transitionary: An exploration of patients' and primary care health professionals' goals in relation to asthma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1359-1366, April.
    8. P. M. Amegbor, 2017. "An Assessment of Care-Seeking Behavior in Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District: A Triple Pluralistic Health Sector Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, June.

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