Worldviews and health care choices among people with chronic pain

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not there was a relationship between the worldviews of people with chronic pain and the health care choices that they make. The background of the study included evidence of a cultural shift toward integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with conventional health care practices. The justification for the study was established with regard to previous research indicating that people with chronic health conditions, demographic predictors, and philosophical differences might contribute to characteristics associated with CAM use. In the literature review, two premises were established: (1) that healing is the psychophysiological response to underlying beliefs, and (2) that Pepper's worldviews (Pepper, 1942) characterize beliefs and expectancies underlying cognitive processes. The study involved a survey packet mailed to prospective subjects who were clients at a traditional teaching hospital clinic specializing in pain management. The survey packet included a list of demographic characteristics, the Health Care Choice List, and the World Hypotheses Scale as measurement of Pepperian worldviews. The data were analyzed by using multiple linear regression, correlation coefficients, and Chi-square Crosstabs procedure. Overall, results of the present study indicated that the combination of age and formistic (categorical) worldview were statistically significant predictors of conventional health care choices by participants in this study. Subjects who were older were less likely to use CAM; and subjects who identified with formism as a dominant worldview were less likely to use CAM. Although formistic worldview was the only statistically significant predictor of health care choices among the worldview categories, there were directional trends of health care choices in relation to worldviews. Subjects endorsing formistic (categorical) and mechanistic (cause and effect) worldviews were more likely to use conventional methods, and subjects with contextualistic (cause and effect relative to context), organismic (interactive whole) worldviews, and equal scores in two worldview categories, were more likely to use CAM methods.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate College

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Arizona.

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Buck, Ernestina S.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sales, Amos

• Health Sciences, Rehabilitation and Therapy.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280133

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/280133