Symptom Consultation in Lay Networks in an Elderly Population

Abstract

Although lay referrals are known to be important as factors affecting the use of professional services, less is known about how individuals use lay consultation in evaluating symptoms. The amount and type of advice given by persons in the social network is especially important with respect to self care of symptoms that never reach the attention of professional caregivers. This article provides information on how often and from whom elderly citizens seek and receive consultation, such as family and friends, when they experience common symptoms. Findings suggest that female relatives are important sources of advice but that neither gender nor living arrangements are closely related to the tendency to seek lay advice for common symptoms. Subjects who consulted lay advisers about arthritic symptoms also were more likely to seek professional consultation.

Somatic distress syndromes in later life: the need for paradigm change

“…The elderly are no more likely than younger people to seek professional help for ' serious ' disorders, and are as likely to ' under-utilize ' treatment that should have been sought (Haug, 1981). Also older people are more likely to attribute non-specific symptoms such as weakness and tiredness to age (Leventhal & Prohaska, 1986 ;Lawrie, 1993 ;Edwardson et al 1995 ;Haug et al 1998). This may be a cohort effect from the lower expectations of health in a generation exposed to greater illness and death.…”

Lay Consultations in Heart Failure Symptom Evaluation

“…Persons in a patient’s social network can provide various types of support (emotional, informational, appraisal, and instrumental) that serve different purposes [15,16]. In the health-related literature, lay consultations often describe interactions that patients have with people in their social network [17]. Lay consultations often occur before contact with healthcare professionals, yet little research exists about how people make treatment decisions and the nature and source of lay consultations.…”

Predictors of successful heart failure self-care maintenance in the first three months after hospitalization

“…12,13 By definition, self-care is an active, deliberate, cognitive, decisional process 8 that is lay-initiated and self-determined. 14 In the context of a chronic illness, the process of self-care can be divided into 2 major categories: maintenance and management.…”