Common Sense Models of Illness: Implications for Symptom Perception and Health‐Related Behaviors

Abstract

Psychological factors influencing self-assessments of health: Toward an understanding of the mechanisms underlying how people rate their own health.

Maternal psychosocial predictors of pediatric health care use: Use of the common sense model of health and illness behaviors to extend beyond the usual suspects

“…Finally, some studies have not demonstrated a significant association between negative affect and symptom reporting (Diefenbach, Leventhal, Leventhal, & Patrick-Miller, 1996). In attempting to integrate these discrepant findings, Martin et al (2003) conclude that the key to understanding the role of negative affect in health care seeking is specifying the context in which symptom reporting is being examined.…”

“…The common sense model of health and illness behaviors (Martin, Rothrock, Leventhal, & Leventhal, 2003;Meyer, Leventhal, & Gutmann, 1985) may constitute a framework to study the role of mothers in determining pediatric health care use. In the common sense model, the person's cognitive representations of and affective reactions to bodily states influence health care decision-making.…”

“…Therefore, symptoms can prompt unnecessary medical visits, particularly in individuals who perceive themselves as less capable of caring for themselves on initial symptom presentation. In fact, a significant number of patients seek medical care for minor complaints that could have been more easily cared for at home (National Center for Health Statistics, 1980;Martin et al, 2003).…”

“…The symptomatic individual undergoes a process of self-diagnosis prior to seeking treatment, thereby taking on the role of a "lay physician" (Martin et al, 2003). The "lay physician" examines symptom characteristics such as severity, chronicity, and onset in determining how best to proceed with self-care.…”

“…In principle, symptoms or behavioral changes in a child may trigger maternal emotional responses such as fear, anxiety, discouragement, or irritation. As demonstrated when individuals seek medical care for themselves (Martin et al, 2003), the mother's emotional response may entail hypervigilence, rumination, and catastrophizing about her child's symptoms. This heightened attentiveness to and importance placed on symptoms may lead to an increased likelihood of a mother seeking medical care for her child.…”