Why do patients seek a second opinion or alternative medicine?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare utilization research
• Psychosocial determinants of health behavior

Background:

• Understanding patient healthcare choices is crucial for effective clinical practice and potential cost containment.
• Previous data on seeking second opinions and alternative medicine use is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify psychosocial determinants of seeking a second opinion and using alternative medicine.
• To evaluate changes in these healthcare utilization patterns over 4-5 years.

Main Methods:

• A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to patients at a university-based gastroenterology clinic.
• Response rate was 83% (N=341).
• Key variables included health locus of control, medical skepticism, healthcare satisfaction, and perceived health status.

Main Results:

• Seeking a second opinion increased from 7.5% to 16% over 5 years, negatively associated with internal locus of control, perceived health, and information-seeking behavior.
• Alternative medicine use remained stable around 8-9% over 4 years, positively associated with medical skepticism and negatively with perceived health and clinic physician satisfaction.
• Significant psychosocial factors were identified for both healthcare utilization measures.

Conclusions:

• Psychosocial factors like locus of control, skepticism, perceived health, and satisfaction significantly influence patient decisions regarding second opinions and alternative medicine.
• These findings offer valuable insights for clinicians to improve patient communication and potentially manage healthcare costs.