title: Nonmedical illness behavior: a model of patients who seek alternatives to allopathic medicine.
abstract: This project investigated the process by which African-Americans in Chicago decided to access drugless, natural health care systems in conjunction with, or as alternatives to, orthodox medical care. The study focused on African-American users of the drugless, natural health care systems of chiropractic and naprapathy. The data for the study were qualitative and ethnographic, and included over 100 in-depth interviews, extensive field notes based on participant observation and related documents. The findings involved constructing a five-stage sequential model that describes the process of conversion to regular use of natural health care. The purpose of this article is to present a model of nonmedical illness behavior that can sensitize health care practitioners to the situational and contingent factors affecting patients' choices.
authors.affiliation: Afro-American Studies Program, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti 48197.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Semmes
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D002641:Chicago; D002684:Chiropractic; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012648:Self Care; D012803:Sick Role; D012951:Socialization; D013315:Stress, Psychological