Abstract
BackgroundLittle research effort has been devoted to examining the role of patient enablement in alleviating health anxiety in primary care. In this study, we examined the role of patient enablement as a moderator in the relationship between health anxiety, psychological distress, and treatment seeking in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).MethodsThe participants were 634 patients of a government-subsidized Chinese medicine outpatient clinic in Hong Kong. They were asked to complete a series of questionnaires on patient enablement, health anxiety, anxiety, depression, physical distress, annual clinic visits, and service satisfaction and provided various demographic details. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and general linear models were used to analyze the data.ResultsWe found that patient enablement correlated positively with service satisfaction. Patient enablement also interacted significantly with health anxiety in affecting indices of psychological distress (depression, anxiety) and treatment seeking (annual visits). Among highly enabled patients, the positive association between health anxiety and indices of psychological distress was weakened, and they also showed more health anxiety–driven treatment seeking as measured by annual clinic visits.ConclusionThese findings suggest a moderating mechanism by which patient enablement weakens the relationship between health anxiety on psychological well-being and increases treatment-seeking behavior in TCM. Practitioners are encouraged to provide sufficient information to patients to foster self-care and disease self-management using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Highlights
Health anxiety is defined as a range of worries and preoccupations regarding illness and pain, which respond readily to appropriate medical reassurance (Sirri and Fava, 2013; Fava et al, 2017)
We examined the role of patient enablement as a moderator in the relationship between health anxiety, psychological distress, and treatment seeking in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
These findings suggest a moderating mechanism by which patient enablement weakens the relationship between health anxiety on psychological wellbeing and increases treatment-seeking behavior in TCM
Summary
Health anxiety is defined as a range of worries and preoccupations regarding illness and pain, which respond readily to appropriate medical reassurance (Sirri and Fava, 2013; Fava et al, 2017). Health anxiety and somatic distress appear to be connected by maladaptive cognitive-psychological processes, namely the selective and focused attention to signs of bodily discomfort and interpretation of these symptoms as signs of physical ill health. According to this cognitive-psychological framework, the more convinced one is about developing an illness, the more motivated one would be to maintain attention to and exaggerate the perception of bodily symptoms, leading to further catastrophizing (Brown, 2004; Witthöft et al, 2016). We examined the role of patient enablement as a moderator in the relationship between health anxiety, psychological distress, and treatment seeking in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
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