Illness behaviour and action: the patient-role

This article is part of the general report presenting results of a survey made on a 1165-person representative sample of the Warsaw adult population. The purpose of the survey was to verify an hypothesis concerning the occurrence of social stratification differentiation of attitudes and behaviours related to illness. In Poland, free public medical care service covers the whole society. Hence we can talk about meeting fundamental health needs if the public access to services of official medical institutions is understood under this term. Thus, in this part of the general analysis of behaviours related to illness we can concentrate on differentiations 'of the second rank'. We mean here differences in the medical services utilizations. How and where Warsaw inhabitants use health care services is shown on the example of one chosen case as well as on the example of various utilizations of services of both out-patients' polyclinics and hospitals. There has been observed the phenomenon of increasing frequency of visiting cooperative and private medical centres alongside with their rising social status. These medical centres are considered in public opinion as 'better' than the state-owned ones.