Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Medical Decision Making
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ganther, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Kreling, D. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ganther, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Kreling, D. H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Measuring Patients’ Medical Care Preferences: Care Seeking versus Self-Treating

Julie M. Ganther, PhD

University of Iowa, Iowa City

Joseph B. Wiederholt, PhD

University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy

David H. Kreling, PhD

University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy

The objectives of this study were (1) to develop a scale to measure patient preferences for using medical care, (2) to assess the reliability and validity of the scale, and (3) to examine factors predicting preferences. Preferences were defined along a continuum, anchored by self-treating preferences and care-seeking preferences. A nine-item scale was developed and mailed to a random sample of 3500 Wisconsin consumers age 50 and older. Ordinary least squares regression was used to examine whether preferences were predicted by demographic and health status variables. A 56.9% usable response rate was obtained. The Medical Care Preference Scale was unidimensional and had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.879. Younger individuals, women, individuals in better health, and individuals from rural areas had significantly stronger self-treating preferences. Significant correlations between the preference scale and two measures of health care utilization provided evidence of predictive validity. Individuals with care-seeking preferences used an average of 1.98 more prescription drugs and had 0.50 more physician visits in the past month than individuals with self-treating preferences. The Medical Care Preference Scale should be a useful tool for research on health care utilization.

Medical Decision Making, Vol. 21, No. 2, 133-140 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/0272989X0102100206
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Fam PractHome page
A. M. C Plass, D. R. Timmermans, and G. van der Wal
Decreasing the number of consultations for minor illnesses of Turkish and Dutch inhabitants of a deprived area in The Netherlands: an intervention study
Fam. Pract., February 1, 2005; 22(1): 51 - 57.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Fam PractHome page
N Summerton, S Mann, J Sutton, A Rigby, A Theakston, J Clark, H Williams-Hardy, and A Summerton
Developing clinically relevant and reproducible symptom-defined populations for cancer diagnostic research in general practice using a community survey
Fam. Pract., June 1, 2003; 20(3): 340 - 346.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]