Abstract
To understand the role of symptom attribution in treatment-seeking behaviours, survey results of 1356 veterans (age = 38–72 years) were analysed. Controlling for symptom frequency, significant relationships were found for specialist and psychological-related consultations. Those who favoured psychological explanations for symptoms were more likely to attend specialist and psychology-related consultations and filled significantly more prescriptions than people who predominantly explained symptoms by situational factors (normalisers). Veterans who favoured somatic explanations attended more general practitioner consultations than normalisers. Attributional style should be considered part of the constellation of factors influencing healthcare usage. Normalisers, the predominant group, used fewest health services and filled fewest prescriptions; this may have important implications for healthcare considering their tendency to minimise or downplay symptoms.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Health Psychology |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 1 Mar 2018 |
Keywords
- attributional style
- healthcare
- symptoms
- treatment seeking
- veterans
Cite this
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Symptom attribution and treatment seeking in Australian veterans. / Wright, Breanna K.; Kelsall, Helen L.; Clarke, David M.; McFarlane, Alexander C.; Sim, Malcolm R.
In: Journal of Health Psychology, 01.03.2018.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Symptom attribution and treatment seeking in Australian veterans
AU - Wright, Breanna K.
AU - Kelsall, Helen L.
AU - Clarke, David M.
AU - McFarlane, Alexander C.
AU - Sim, Malcolm R.
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - To understand the role of symptom attribution in treatment-seeking behaviours, survey results of 1356 veterans (age = 38–72 years) were analysed. Controlling for symptom frequency, significant relationships were found for specialist and psychological-related consultations. Those who favoured psychological explanations for symptoms were more likely to attend specialist and psychology-related consultations and filled significantly more prescriptions than people who predominantly explained symptoms by situational factors (normalisers). Veterans who favoured somatic explanations attended more general practitioner consultations than normalisers. Attributional style should be considered part of the constellation of factors influencing healthcare usage. Normalisers, the predominant group, used fewest health services and filled fewest prescriptions; this may have important implications for healthcare considering their tendency to minimise or downplay symptoms.
AB - To understand the role of symptom attribution in treatment-seeking behaviours, survey results of 1356 veterans (age = 38–72 years) were analysed. Controlling for symptom frequency, significant relationships were found for specialist and psychological-related consultations. Those who favoured psychological explanations for symptoms were more likely to attend specialist and psychology-related consultations and filled significantly more prescriptions than people who predominantly explained symptoms by situational factors (normalisers). Veterans who favoured somatic explanations attended more general practitioner consultations than normalisers. Attributional style should be considered part of the constellation of factors influencing healthcare usage. Normalisers, the predominant group, used fewest health services and filled fewest prescriptions; this may have important implications for healthcare considering their tendency to minimise or downplay symptoms.
KW - attributional style
KW - healthcare
KW - symptoms
KW - treatment seeking
KW - veterans
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043322333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1359105318760156
DO - 10.1177/1359105318760156
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Health Psychology
JF - Journal of Health Psychology
SN - 1359-1053
ER -