Beliefs about health and illness shape emotional responses to illness, health-related behaviour and relationships with health-care providers in physical illness. Researchers are beginning to study the illness beliefs of people with psychosis, primarily using models developed in relation to...

Using patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) after surgery, a patient can obtain pain-relieving injections of morphine without the direct involvement of a nurse or doctor. The present study was a response to the conventional view that patients value PCA because of the control which it affords them...

It is generally regarded as valuable for patients to exercise control over aspects of their medical treatment. Although psychological and other interventions are commonly used with the aim of increasing patients' ability or willingness to control events, it is not known whether patients...

Lay and medical beliefs are not separate systems. The beliefs of somatizing patients, in particular, incorporate medical understanding and it has been argued that this increases the power that such patients exert in seeking treatment from doctors. To understand the nature and use of this power...

A systematic review examined universal mental health screening in pediatric primary care, and found little research has addressed patients' engagement in the process or how clinicians can best use screening results.

A series of three studies of consecutive primary care patients examined their intentions when visiting a general practitioner (GP). In study 1, a principal, components analysis of responses to a specially-devised symptom check-list was used to form component-based scales on which patients'...

Doctors are widely encouraged to share decision-making with patients. However, the assumption that responsibility for decisions is an objective quantity that can be apportioned between doctors and patients is problematic. We studied treatment decisions from three perspectives simultaneously -...

The discourse of the patient as an active agent in managing illness and health care has become very important in medicine. It is seen in the significance attached to patient empowerment and participation, and in the burgeoning research into patients' coping with illness. The discourse cannot be...

A way of measuring patients' beliefs about the origin of their symptoms would allow the investigation of important questions concerning the consultation process and its outcome. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that could measure the beliefs about symptoms of patients...