-Abstract-
Patients with chronic disease have various treatment patterns because it shows a
progressive degenerative feature. Especially various physical and emotional problems of
the rheumatoid arthritis patients leave them shopping around various types of treatment.
According to previous studies, over 70% of patients with arthritis experienced the
traditional oriental medicine or folk remedies simultaneously with medical treatment
within one year after the onset of disease.
The purpose of this study are 1) to compare the patterns of treatment-seeking
behaviors between Korean arthritis patients and Americans ; and 2) test two models of
treatment-seeking behaviors by path analysis, one for early treatment-seeking behavior
model(ETBM) and the other in chronic treatment-seeking behavior model(CTBM) in
Korean sample.
The interview survey was performed to 133 RA patients with structured questionnaire
at out-patient clinic or public health center.
Patients characteristics such as age, duration of disease were similar in two countries
except higher educational background in Americans. These were no patients using only
alternative therapies or no medical treatment in the US. Most of the American patients
have chosen both medical treatment and alternative therapy, while the Koreans less than
American. In Korea, combined treatment group usually consists of the people who are
younger, more educated and higher economic status than the characters of other groups
in early or chronic stages. In early stage, they tend to have strong belief of curing form
the disease, satisfy the relationship with their physicians and comply with direction of
the medical professional.
The paths of two models were explained by 70% in ETBM and 33% in CTBM. When
the models were modified, almost all paths of the CTBM were the same as the previous
one, but direct determinant factor was changed from the relationship with physicians to
the lay referral system in chronic model. These two models' explanation powers became
94% and 88%, respectively. The attitude or perception of disease, lay referral system
and the relationship with medical personnel are the main determinants of
treatment-seeking behaviors.
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