Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T15:17:22.158Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-Care in Relation to Informal and Formal Care*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Margaret J. Penning  and
Neena L. Chappell
Margaret J. Penning
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Centre on Ageing, 338 Isbister Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T2 2N2.
Neena L. Chappell
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Sociology, Director, Centre on Aging, 338 Isbister Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence, inter-relationships and correlates of various forms of self, informal and formal care. Analyses of data drawn from a random sample of 743 non-institutionalised elderly individuals living in Winnipeg, Manitoba reveal similarities as well as differences among the three types of care. Self- and formal care are somewhat similar, being positively related and having similar correlates. Nevertheless, substitutability as a consequence of medical scepticism is also evident. Both are unrelated to informal care. It is poor health in the form of functional disability and the availability of support through the marital relationship which are the strongest correlates of informal care. In contrast, health (chronic conditions and perceived health status) as well as beliefs in the efficacy of both preventative health behaviours and medical services are among the strongest correlates of self- and formal care.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 41 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1 Levin, L. S. and Idler, E. L.The Hidden Health Care System: Mediating Structures and Medicine. Ballinger, Cambridge, 1981.Google Scholar

2 Horowitz, A., Dono, J. E. and Brill, R. ‘Continuity or changes in informal support? The impact of an extended home care program’. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, California, 1983.Google Scholar

3 National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA), American Association of Retired Persons and Wakefield Associates. ‘Family support systems and the aging’. Policy report submitted to the Select Committee on Aging, House of Representatives, 96th Congress, Washington, D.C., 1980.Google Scholar

4 Freidson, E.Professional Dominance: The Social Structure of Medical Care. Atherton Press, New York, 1970.Google Scholar

5 Chappell, N. L. The interface among three systems of care: self, informal and formal. In Ward, R. A. and Tobin, S. S. (eds), Health in Aging, pp. 159–179. Springer, New York, 1987.Google Scholar

6 Shanas, E. and Maddox, G. L. Health, health resources, and the utilization of care. In Binstock, R. H. and Shanas, E. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, pp. 697–726. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1985.Google Scholar

7 Evans, R. G.Does Canada have too many doctors? Why nobody loves an immigrant physician. Canadian Public Policy, 11 (1976), 147–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 Evans, R. G.Strained Mercy: The Economics of Canadian Health Care. Butterworth and Company (Canada) Ltd, Toronto, 1984.Google Scholar

9 Illich, I.Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. Random, New York, 1976.Google Scholar

10 Helman, C.Feed a cold, starve a fever. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 2 (1978), 107.Google Scholar

11 Pratt, L.The significance of the family in medication. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 4 (1973), 13–35.Google Scholar

12 Levin, L. S. and Idler, E. L.Op. cit.Google Scholar

13 Levin, L. S., Katz, A. H. and Hoist, E.Self-Care: Lay Initiatives in Health, 2nd edn.Prodist, New York, 1979.Google Scholar

14 Dean, K. J., Holst, E. and Wagner, M. G.Self-care of common illnesses in Denmark. Medical Care, 21 (1983), 1012–1032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

15 Elliott-Binns, C. P.An analysis of lay medicine. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 23 (1973), 255–266.Google ScholarPubMed

16 Sussman, M. B. The family life of old people. In Binstock, R. H. and Shanas, E. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, pp. 415–449. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1985.Google Scholar

17 Biaggi, M. ‘Testimony Before the Select Committee on Aging’. House of Representatives, 96th Congress, Washington, D.C., 1980.Google Scholar

18 Horowitz, A., Dono, J. E. and Brill, R.Op. cit.Google Scholar

19 National Retired Teachers Association, American Association of Retired Persons and Wakefield Associates. Op. cit.

20 Maddox, G. L. and Delinger, D. C.Assessment of functional status in a program evaluation and resource allocation model. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 438 (1978), 59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Dean, K. J.Self-care responses to illness: a selected review. Social Science and Medicine, 15A (1981), 673–687.Google Scholar

22 Dean, K. J., Hoist, E. and Wagner, M. G.Op. cit.Google Scholar

23 Hickey, T., Dean, K. and Holstein, B. E.Emerging trends in gerontology and 10 geriatrics: implications for the self-care of the elderly. Social Science and Medicine, 23 (1986), 1363–1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Dean, K. J. Self-care responses to illness. Op. cit.Google Scholar

25 Dean, K. J. Self-care behaviour: implications for ageing. In Dean, K., Hickey, T. and Holstein, B. E. (eds), Self-Care and Health in Old Age, pp. 58–93. Croom Helm, London, 1986.Google Scholar

26 Levin, L. S., Katz, A. H. and Holst, E.Op. cit. p. 13.Google Scholar

27 Haug, M. R. Doctor–patient relationships and their impact on elderly self-care. In Dean, K., Hickey, T. and Holstein, B. E. (eds), Self-Care and Health in Old Age, pp. 230–250. Croom Helm, London, 1986.Google Scholar

28 Haug, M. R. and Lavin, B. ‘Self-care and the elderly: an empirical assessment’. Paper presented at the Xth World Congress of the International Sociological Association, Mexico City, Mexico, 1982.Google Scholar

29 Haug, M. R.Op. cit.Google Scholar

30 Levin, L. S. and Idler, E. L.Self-care in health. Annual Review of Public Health, 4 (1983), 181–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

31 Levin, L. S. and Idler, E. L. Ibid. p. 181.

32 Levin, L. S., Katz, A. H. and Holst, E.Op. cit. p. 13.Google Scholar

33 Dean, K. J. Self-care behaviour. Op. cit.Google Scholar

34 Dean, K.J. Ibid. p. 62.

35 Dean, K. J. Self-care responses to illness. Op. cit.Google Scholar

36 Hickey, T., Dean, K. J. and Holstein, B. E.Op. cit.Google Scholar

37 Dean, K. J.Lay care in illness. Social Science and Medicine, 22 (1986), 275–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

38 Dunnell, K. and Cartwright, A.Medicine Takers, Prescribers and Hoarders. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1972.Google Scholar

39 Fleming, G. V., Giachello, A. L., Anderson, R. M. and Andrade, P.Self-care: substitute, supplement or stimulus for formal medical care services. Medical Care, 22 (1984), 950–966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

40 Anderson, J., Buck, C., Danaher, K. and Fry, J.Users and non-users of doctors: implications for self-care. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 27 (1977), 155.Google ScholarPubMed

41 Bush, P. and Rabin, D.Who's using nonprescribed medicines? Medical Care, 14 (1976), 1014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

42 Haug, M. R.Age and medical care utilization patterns. Journal of Gerontology, 36 (1981), 103–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

43 Coulton, C. and Frost, A. K.Use of social and health services by the elderly. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 23 (1982), 330–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

44 Haug, M. R. and Lavin, B.Op. cit.Google Scholar

45 Dean, K. J., Holst, E. and Wagner, M. G.Op. cit.Google Scholar

46 Segall, A.Age differences in lay conceptions of health and self-care responses to illness. Canadian Journal on Aging, 6 (1987), 47–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Segall, A.Op. cit.Google Scholar

48 Levin, L. S. and Idler, E. L. The hidden health care system. Op. cit.Google Scholar

49 Wallston, K. A., Wallston, B. S. and DeVellis, R.Development of the multidimensional health locus of control (MHLC) scales. Health Education Monograph, 6 (1978), 160–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

50 Lau, R. R.Origins of health locus of control beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 (1982), 322–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

51 Mechanic, D. (ed.) The epidemiology of illness behavior and its relationship to physical and psychological distress. In Symptoms, Illness Behavior and Help-Seeking Prodist, Neale Watson Academic Publications, New York, 1982.Google Scholar

52 Chappell, N. L.Op. cit.Google Scholar

53 Coulton, C. and Frost, A. K.Op. cit.Google Scholar

54 Wolinsky, F. D., Coe, R. M., Miller, D. K., Prendergast, J. M., Creel, M. J. and Chavez, M. N.Health services utilization among the noninstitutionalized elderly. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 24 (1983), 325–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

55 Banks, M., Beresford, S., Morrell, D., Walker, J. and Watkins, C.Factors influencing demand for primary medical care in women aged 20–44 years: a preliminary report. International Journal of Epidemiology, 4 (1975), 189–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

56 For further information, consult Chappell, N. L., Strain, L. A. and Badger, M.Self-care in health and in illness. Comprehensive Gerontology, 2 (1988), 92–101.Google ScholarPubMed

57 Chappell, N. L.Measuring functional ability and chronic health conditions among the elderly: a research note on the adequacy of three instruments. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 22 (1981), 90–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

58 Bengtson, V. L., Mangen, D. and Landry, P. The multi-generation family: concepts and findings. In Garms-Homolova, V., Hoerning, E. M. and Schaeffer, D. (eds), Intergenerational Relationships, C. J. Hogrefe, New York, 1984.Google Scholar

59 Lau, R. R. and Ware, J. F.Refinements in the measurement of health-specific locus-of-control beliefs. Medical Care, 19 (1981), 1147–1158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

60 Wallston, B. S., Wallston, K. A., Kaplan, G. D. and Maides, S. A.Development and validation of the health locus of control (HLC) scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44 (1976), 580–585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

61 Chappell, N. L., Strain, L. A. and Badger, M.Op. cit.Google Scholar

62 Chappell, N. L. The interface among three systems of care. Op. cit.Google Scholar