because existing research (Johnson, 1988; Reed & Stanley, 1989) reported that COPD affects substantial numbers of elderly patients. Moreover, a review of this investigator's emergency registration log book revealed that 46 percent of patients over 65 years of age sought treatment, via unscheduled emergency room visits, for COPD.
The investigator's log book revealed that COPD was prevalent in emergency room visits which has a bearing on utilization of health services. Specifically, it suggests that patients were probably experiencing symptoms for a period prior to seeking treatment and only sought treatment after symptoms reached crisis proportions. This delay of treatment despite the appearance of symptoms was confirmed by log statistics which showed that 97 percent of these patients experienced symptoms for periods from two days to two weeks prior to seeking emergency room treatment.
The foregoing findings raise the question; What is the difference in health beliefs of elderly COPD patients who wait until they are in crisis before they seek treatment and patients that do not wait until they are in crisis? Stating this question in operational terms, it can be asked: What is the difference between the health beliefs of elderly COPD patients admitted to the hospital under conditions of emergency room visits and elderly COPD patients admitted to the hospital through regular channels such as referral by their physicians?
This study's conceptual underpinnings rest on the Health Belief Model (Becker, 1974; Janz & Becker, 1984; Rosenstock, 1974). So that the study may be placed in context of existing theory, this model and its application to instances of chronic illness is delineated here.
The Health Belief Model holds that seeking health care depends upon three primary factors, motivation, susceptibility, and cost/benefit ratio (Becker, 1978). The first of these is motivation. In order to seek health care, people must hav...