Attitudes toward self-care: a consumer study

Area of Science:

• Health behavior
• Consumer health
• Health psychology

Background:

• Self-care is a growing movement where individuals take more responsibility for health.
• Limited descriptive studies exist on consumer and professional attitudes toward self-care.
• Understanding consumer attitudes is crucial for promoting self-care practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the reliability and validity of an instrument measuring consumer attitudes toward self-care.
• To assess the instrument's sensitivity to group differences in self-care attitudes.
• To provide a foundation for further research on self-care attitudes.

Main Methods:

• A scale developed for providers was revised for consumer use.
• The revised scale was administered via telephone interview to 245 families in central California.
• Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and group differences in attitudes were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Consumer attitudes toward self-care were found to be generally favorable.
• The scale demonstrated moderate internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .65).
• Significant differences in mean attitudes were observed among three treatment groups.

Conclusions:

• The developed instrument shows potential for assessing consumer self-care attitudes.
• The scale's moderate reliability suggests a need for revision to enhance discrimination of favorable attitudes.
• Further research with a refined instrument is recommended to better understand and promote self-care.