Some people delay or even avoid going to the doctor. What are the reasons for this problem? How to solve these problems? I will describe this subject in this assignment.
First, I raise the practical cost the reason people hesitate to go to the hospital. We need time off work if we are working, as Ogden(2019) said. It is a serious problem in my country; many working people prioritized their work even if they feel unwell and lose precious time to get an accurate diagnosis and treatment. It is quite hard to get time off because most workers worry about making other colleagues irritating. Even if we could go to a hospital, hospitals are always crowded with help-seeking patients mostly, and it requires us to wait a long time despite the poor physical condition. As Ogden(2019) explained that "smiling, yawning, shivering, and itching can be contagious if people watch others experiencing these symptoms"(p.43), we also feel down. Our symptoms get worse when watching others suffer from diseases. These reasons make us reluctant to go to the doctor.
Secondly, I adduce the therapeutic cost, such as "having to go through a potentially embarrassing physical examination"(Ogden, 2019, p.44). In Japan, cervical cancer (CC) deaths among women aged <50 years have doubled over the last three decades"(Motoki et al., 2015, p.700). Japanese government recommends women aged over 20 years have a uterine cancer screening every year, but most Japanese women do not go to take check-ups. The main reason is the lack of experience and knowledge. They only focus on negative aspects, such as embarrassing and pain, and do not know the mortality of uterine cancer and how useful uterine cancer screening is to detect earlier. Therapeutic barriers surely affect our help-seeking behaviors.
What are the problems with delaying or avoiding medical care? The chronic poor physical condition brings us stress, and it makes us anxious and depressed. Moreover, their work efficiency will go down, and maintaining good relationships with others will also be difficult. So then, what are the potential solutions for improving help-seeking behavior? I suggest that all of you acquire more knowledge of diseases, take care of yourself, and pay more attention to your own physical conditions. Additionally, every Japanese company should make the best effort to create an affable atmosphere and organize an environment in which taking time off is easy for employees.
I described the barriers which affect our help-seeking behaviors and the potential solutions for improving help-seeking behavior through this discussion assignment. I want to ask you for your experiences to broaden my perspective in the end. Have you ever hesitated to go to a hospital, and why?
References
Motoki, Y., Mizushima, S., Taguri, M., Takahashi, K., Asano, R., Kato, H., ... & Miyagi, E. (2015). Increasing trends in cervical cancer mortality among young Japanese women below the age of 50 years: an analysis using the Kanagawa population-based Cancer Registry, 1975–2012. Cancer Epidemiology, 39(5), 700-706.Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877782115001654
Ogden, J. (2019). The Psychology of Health and Illness: an open access course. Retrieved from http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/841757/1/__homes.surrey.ac.uk_home_.System_Desktop_The Psychology of Health and Illnessbk.pdf
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