Symptoms and Self-Care in Old Age

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Abstract
Self-care has recently come to be recognized as the predominant form of response to illness among the general population, but little is known regarding beliefs and practices of the aged. In this study, beliefs regarding the appropriate response to 53 common symptoms were investigated and contrasted to actual responses. Various forms of self-care were seen as appropriate responses to symptoms ranging from minor to potentially serious. Preference for self-care responses appears to be related to perceived severity of symptoms and the perceived effectiveness of available self-care responses.