Are you a health care and information seeker or avoider? A new assessment tool

Abstract

Healthcare seeking and avoidance behaviors, when applied maladaptively may negatively impact individuals’ functioning and the public healthcare system. This study describes the development of the first tool to assess these behaviors. 359 university students (279 females, 80 males; age range=17-45) completed the new Healthcare Behaviors Questionnaire and measures of illness anxiety. Results supported a six- (Care Seeking, Information Seeking, Asking for Care, Care Avoidance, Information Avoidance and Postponing Care) and a two-factor structure (Healthcare Seeking and Healthcare Avoidance) of the tool and provided evidence for its good psychometric properties (internal consistency and construct validity). There were no gender, living place and medical diagnosis differences in healthcare seeking and avoidance behaviors. Healthcare Behaviors Questionnaire factors were significant predictors of increased illness anxiety. The factor structure and psychometric properties of the tool remain to be confirmed in other samples, including clinical and medical populations, to support its clinical and research utility.