CULTURAL ORIENTATION, DISEASE REPRESENTATION AND HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

This study aims to the understanding of the relationship between lay add disease representation and help-seeking behaviour by examining the role cultural orientation play in influencing disease representations and illness behaviour. At the same time, some previous research findings on the relationships between demographic variables and illness behaviour are re-examined. Chinese subjects were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions on disease attributes, help-seeking behaviour, Chinese cultural values and demographic characteristics. The results revealed some interesting deviations from previous findings and gave some support to the hypothesized model. culture played a major role in determining disease representations and help-seeking behaviour. It was found that the higher a subject's Chinese culture value score, the more likely he/she was to use Chinese illness concepts on his/her illness representations and the more likely he/she was to use Chinese medicine. A LISREL model was developed to show the relationships between variables. The model showed that culture influences Help-Seeking behaviour directly and indirectly through influencing Chinese Illness Concepts. That is, a person’s cultural orientation influences his choice of going to a Western doctor, Chinese sinseh or engaging in Self-care. A person's cultural orientation also influences his/her using Chinese illness concepts in his/her mental representation of illnesses which in turn influence his/her decision to visit a Chinese sinseh.