Health Beliefs of COPD Patients
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This study examines whether there are differences in the health beliefs of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) who arrive at the hospital in crisis and those who are not in crisis when they arrive at the hospital. That is, the study focuses on a comparison of two groups of COPD patients, a group that is admitted to the hospital in crisis via emergency room visits, and a group that, because they are not in crisis, is admitted to the hospital through regular channels such as referral from a physician or a medical agency.According to Strain (1991), utilization of health services by the elderly (aged 65+ years) is, at least in part, a function of their perceptions of their need for these services and this perception of need is itself determined by patients' various health beliefs. For example, in her study of 743 elderly patients, Strain found that the utilization of health services was linearly related to two health beliefs: degree of medical skepticism; and belief in the value of health maintenance activities. Similar findings have been reported by several researchers (Bauwens & Anderson, 1984; Hallal, 1982; Nemcek, 1990). Indeed, Ward (1987) has stated that the relationship of health beliefs to utilization of health services has been fairly well established by psycho-medical research. However, one area of the health beliefs/utilization of services relationship that has not been well examined is the extent to which h
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the contribution of patient demographics to health beliefs.
Studies of Health Beliefs in Elderly Populations
Leventhal (1983) tested the hypothesis that health behavior was influenced by age, symptomatology and health beliefs. Health beliefs and behaviors were examined in relationship to six specific diseases: the common cold; colon-rectal cancer; lung cancer; heart attack; high blood pressure; and senility.
Subjects in the study consisted of 396 adults who completed a questionnaire assessing their health behavior, perceived levels of effectiveness associated with preventive health behaviors, illness attributes, symptoms, health beliefs, and coping mechanisms. This questionnaire was researcher-designed and had not been subjected to any psychometric testing. In other words, the researchers did not test its reliability or validity. The health belief items used on the questionnaire were few and were very specific about the particular illnesses from which patients suffered, namely the illnesses of having a cold, colon-rectal cancer, lung cancer, heart attack, high blood pressure, senility).
It needs to be noted here that there are no standardized tests measuring health beliefs. Also, conceptual components of health beliefs a
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 7962
Approximate Pages = 32 (250 words per page)
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