Compliance in acute and chronic patients receiving a health belief model intervention in the emergency department

Abstract

We compared compliance behavior in acute (n = 670) and chronic (n = 172) patients visiting the Emergency Department (E.D.) of an acute care, private hospital; compliance was operationalized as scheduling or keeping a follow-up referral appointment originating in the Emergency Department. The purposes of the study were to assess demographic and illness experience differences among patients and to assess the relative impact of a Health Belief Model Intervention on compliance in acute versus chronic patients. Within the acute and chronic categories patients were randomized into four experimental groups to test the efficacy of the HBM intervention. Although chronic patients were generally more compliant than acute patients, the HBM interventions were equally effective in increasing compliance in both groups. Chronic patients were older, more likely to have had previous treatment for an illness, and more likely to regard the potential consequences of their illness as serious; these factors were associated with greater compliance.