Self-management and health seeking behaviors in individuals with chronic disease

The knowledge, skills and attitudes of individuals with chronic diseases affect the successful management of the disease self-management process, and in this context, it is important to use the health-seeking behaviors of individuals effectively. The aim of this study is to determine self-management and health-seeking behaviors and the relationship between them in individuals with chronic diseases. The research was conducted in descriptive, cross-sectional type. The research data were conducted in the internal medicine, chest diseases and cardiology clinics of a training and research hospital. The study included 220 individuals who were hospitalized in internal clinics for diagnosis or treatment, were 18 years of age and older, were diagnosed with at least one chronic disease, spoke Turkish, had no cognitive problems, and gave consent to participate in the study. Research data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Chronic Disease Self-Management Scale and the Health Seeking Behavior Scale. The mean age of the patients included in the study was 64.14±11.99 years and the mean duration of chronic disease diagnosis was 11.77±8.60. It has been determined that chronic disease self-management differs significantly according to age, education status, employment status, socioeconomic status, diagnosis period and level of perception of health status. It was determined that health-seeking behaviors differed significantly according to age, gender, educational status, employment status, marital status, socioeconomic status, diagnosis period and health perception status (p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the total scores of coping with stigma and health care effectiveness and online health seeking and health seeking behaviors; It was found that there was a negative, low-level significant relationship between treatment adherence and traditional health seeking. It was determined that there was a positive, moderately significant relationship between health care effectiveness and seeking professional health (p<0.001). Considering that most individuals with chronic diseases provide their own care, it is important to determine the self-management behaviors of individuals and the health-seeking behaviors they use in this process.