• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to assess treatment-seeking behavior and to identify the factors that affect treatment-seeking behavior of men having lower urinary tract symptoms. One hundred thirty-two men working at public institutions or visiting the public institutions were included for this study. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey done from October to November, 2016. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 18.0 program. The treatment-seeking behavior was found only in 55.6% (n=79) with lower urinary tract symptoms. The factors that affect treatment-seeking behavior in men with lower urinary tract symptoms significantly were economic status, subjective health status, autonomy, and competence. Results of this study provided fundamental data for developing the program to promote treatment-seeking behavior in men with lower urinary tract symptoms.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.888-898
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine and compare clinical manifestations and predicting factors for treatment-seeking delay among patients <65 and ${\geq}65\;yr$ with first-time acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: A total of 288 patients who were diagnosed with ACS were individually interviewed at C university hospital in G-city from November 2007 to December 2008. Results: Median pre-hospital delays for younger and older patients were 5 and 12 hr, respectively. Younger patients were more likely to be current smokers, heavy drinkers, obese, stressed, and have an unhealthy diet and family history, and to complain of chest pain, left shoulder and arm pain, perspiration, and nausea. Older patients were more likely to have hypertension and diabetes, and to complain syncope and dyspnea. Logistic regression analyses showed that after adjustment for age, gender and education, progressive onset of symptom and no attribution to cardiac problem significantly predicted pre-hospital delay >3 hr in both younger and older patients. Low perceived health status was a significant independent predictor in older patients only. Conclusion: Health care providers should be concerned with different manifestations between younger and older adults, and educate people at risk for heart attack about symptoms and actions to get immediate help.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.26-37
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to determine and test treatment-seeking behavior type and decisional factors of the cancer patients after first detecting symptoms. This study used the methodological triangulation. In the first, treatment-seeking behavior type and decisional factor were described based on qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with 29 cancer patients. Next, they were tested using quantitative data collected from a structured questionnaire involving 165 cancer patients with statistical method. As a result, treatment-seeking behavior from detecting symptoms to visiting a doctor categorized into immediate visit and delayed visit. The decisional factors on time interval between detecting symptoms and visiting a doctor was influenced by the perceived seriousness of symptoms, the experiences of visiting a doctor previously with similar symptoms, social-group influences on visiting a doctor, barriers to visiting a doctor, and health concerns. There were significant relationship between treatment-seeking time and these factors, however, there was no statistically significant relationship between treatment-seeking time and the demographic characteristics. It is expected that results of this study can be used for nursing education data of cancer patients for early diagnosis after detecting symptoms

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.177-196
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• 1997

This study was undertaken to explore the antecedent factors and process of the treatment-seeking behaviors of medical and alternative treatments in patients with arthritis using methodological triangulation. The data were collected from 995 arthritic patients who were registered either in a center of rheumatology for medical treatment or residents of community having no treatment to classify different treatment patterns. Sixteen patients with various types of treatment only, alternative treatment only, and no treatment were selected among the total samples to identify the antecedent factors through in-depth interview. The quantitative data were analyzed by percentile, t-test, chi-square test and discrimant analysis using SAS PC program, while the qualitative data were analyzed by means of grounded theory methodology. Treatment-seeking behaviors of patients change from the early stage to the sick-role stage. At the early stage, initial characteristics of pain and acculturation of medical professionalism affect the choice of treatment patterns. The acculturation of medical professionalism is affected by health care accessibility, level of education, duration of sickness and lay referral system. At the sick-role stage, lay referral system and acculturation of medical professionalism affect the choice of treatment patterns. The acculturation of medical professionalism is affected by characteristics of symtoms, perceived treatment effects, perceived causes of diseases and socio-economic status as well as health care accessibility, level of education and lay referral system. In conclusion, different factors as well as common factors are influencing the treatment-seeking behaviors depending on the disease and treatment stages. More detailed further studies are required to explore the value system or medical acculturation of patients which is one of the most important factors in decision-making about treatment modalities.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.323-333
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of situational, clinical and psychsoical factors on treatment-seeking behavior among those with acute myocardial infarction(AMI). This study used a retrospective, descriptive design. The sample consisted of 72 patients aged over 30 and who were diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction at two large university-affiliated medical centers from July 1, 1998 to March 30, 2000. But of 72, patients 5 who were an outlier in treatment-seeking time were deleted. Data were collected by using questionnaires, which included demographic data, situational, clinical and psychosocial data. Also patient interviews and chart review were used to obtain information related to treatment-seeking time. The results of this study were summarized as follows ; 1. Mean time from the onset of AMI symptoms to arrival at the hospital was $12.09{\pm}11.44$ hours; 2. Treatment-seeking time was not significantly different by age, gender, or education; 3. Most(44 or 65.78%) patients were at home when they began having AMI symptoms. The remaining patients were either in a public area, workplace or in a car. Patients at home delayed longer than those who had their first symptoms elsewhere, but not significantly different. Also, most patients were with another person when they began to experience AMI symptoms: a spouse(25 or 37.3%), other family member(31 or 46.3%); the remaining 11 were alone. There were no significant differences in treatment-seeking time based on whether alone or with others. Most patients(46 or 68.7%) used an ambulance rather than taking private transportation, and patients who used an ambulance were delayed longer than those who used private transportation, but there were no significant differences; 4. Time to treatment-seeking was not significantly different by blood pressure, heart rate on admission and the peak CK-MB, CPK and Cholesterol level, Killips class; 5. There were no significant statistical differences in treament-seeking times by anxiety level, mood status or control ability.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.26-47
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to explore the treatment pattern of treatment of patients with arthritis. The grounded theory approach methodology was used in this study. The purposive sampling was conducted. 16 subjects who experienced RA, lived in middle sized city in Korea, and all women The results of this study were as follows : 1. The process of treatment was composed of the stage of symptom experience and the stage of sick role experience. The naming of the symptom was conducted in the stage of symptom experience through, the doctor shopping. The sick role experience was patterned by the choice of the treatment mode. 2. The treatment modes were roughly devided by western medicine and oriental or ethnic medicine. Several factors which affected the choice of the treatment mode were patient's economic state, educational level, religion, the acknowledgement of the cause of illness, duration of illness, lay referral system, the relationship of medical staff, and the acculturation of medical professionalism. The key component of the decision of the treatment was the level of the acculturation of medical professionalism. To enhance the acculturation of medical professionalism, we have to provide the information of cause and the prognosis of the disease to the patients and the variety of communication channel between medical staff and patients, and we should understand the medical culture according to the ages, gender, locations in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.605-613
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• 1999

The main purposes of this study were to determine the time interval between the onset of symptoms of myocardial infarction and treatment-seeking time and to identify the factors related to the interval time. This study used a retrospective design. The sample consisted of 45 patients aged over 30 who were diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction at two large university affiliated medical center from September 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998. Data was collected by using questionnaries, which included demographic data, permonitory clinical signs and symtoms of myocardial infarction, and a measure of the severity of the signs and symptoms. Also semi-structured interviews and chart reviews were used to obtain information related to treatment-seeking time. The results of this study are summarized as follows ; 1. The most frequent premonitory clinical symptom was chest pain(92.9%), the second, was perspiration(81.0%), and the next were nausea(40.5%) and dyspnea(38.1%). Thirty two patients reported having more than four premonitory signs and symtoms. Patients described the characteristics of chest pain as “somethings very heavy pressing down”(26.2%), “felt like my chest would burst”(24.4%), or “sharp pain”(16.7%), Over 95% of the sample reported having chest pain. 2. Twenty two (52.4%) patients reported to have “very severe” premonitory pain. 3. The mean time interval between the onset of signs and symptoms and the arrival at the medical center was 6.39$\pm$10.80 hours in 42 samples, the mean time from the onset to arrival at a local hospital was 3.27$\pm$5.39 hours and for transfer from a local hospital to the medical center was 4.75$\pm$9.87 hours in patients who had arrived at medical center via local hospital. 4. The severity of premonitory signs and symptoms did not differ significantly according to existence of premonitory signs and symptoms. 5. There was no significant relationship between treatment-seeking time and age, gender, marital status, economic status, occupation, or residence. But education had significant relationship(r＝－0.51, p＝0.01). Analysis of difference of the time interval according to the premonitory signs and symptoms showed that the time was shorter in patients who experienced nausea or dyspnea(U＝115.50, p＝0.01, U＝132.00, p＝0.04), however the severity of premonitory signs and symptoms did not have statistical significance.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.537-551
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was designed to identify meaningful themes related to the recognition of lifestyle risk factors and barriers in seeking treatment following an acute event of first-time acute myocardial infarction. Methods: A methodological mixed method of thematic content analysis and a quantitative analysis was used. The sample consisted of 120 male patients < 65 years of age who agreed to be in the study were interviewed using a semistructured during 2008-2009. Data were analyzed according to the procedure of thematic content analysis and the meaningful themes were coded into SPSS data for quantitative analysis. Results: Pre-hospital delay greater than three hours reported by 58.3% (n=70) of the sample and similarly 63.3% had no recognition about their symptoms as cardiac in origin. The mean number of risk factors was $3.9{\pm}1.8$ out of 11 when lifestyle and psychosocial factors were included. From the interview data among the 70 patients delayed greater than three hours, thirty-five themes categorized into 12 main themes influenced the delayed decision which was identified according to personal-cognitive, socio-cultural, and contextual factors. Conclusion: Health care providers should consider these themes in designing individual interventions to make lifestyle changes and to facilitate more prompt decisions to seek care.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.603-611
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the SART(Situation Awareness Rating Technique) tool to measure the situational awareness of patients with acute coronary syndrome. The translated SART was tested on 118 hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndrome to verify the reliability and validity of the tool. The analysis was conducted with Cronbach's alpha, exploratory & confirmatory factor analysis. Study findings found that the tool's reliability and model fit index improved when the two problematic items, namely, Situation Awareness 1 (Instability of Situation) and Situation Awareness 7 (Spare Mental Capacity) were removed. According to the results, the revised K-SART is deemed to be an appropriate method for assessing the degree of situational awareness of patients with acute coronary syndrome in decision making about treatment-seeking.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.253-277
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• 1999

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 purposes 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 is 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. There 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 from 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.