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ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs of patients and visitors at a free, state-run medical clinic in Faridabad, India, in order to establish a norm for this population and to explore potential associations between the different categories of causal health beliefs.
Design: Participants (110 men, 96 women) were interviewed in Hindi and asked a shortened version of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale assessing both internal HLOC and three aspects of external HLOC (chance, powerful others, and God). Additional variables of interest included a Traditional Values Scale, a measure of spirituality, an assessment of health status, and demographic information including gender, age, employment status, and religion.
Results: Participants rated the external-God factor as a stronger determinant of their health than the internal or other external HLOC factors. Internal HLOC was positively correlated with external HLOC in terms of chance and the role of powerful others and these associations were strongest for the most interdependent participants (i.e. women and the unemployed).
Conclusions: For patients and visitors at the Faridabad clinic, religion played a significant role in their causal health beliefs. In addition, internal HLOC was positively associated with aspects of external locus of control, suggesting that causal health beliefs were viewed in a holistic, integrated fashion. Interventions based on these findings are suggested.
Acknowledgements
This project received ethical approval from both the researchers’ home institutional review board and from the dispensary administration. The authors would like to thank the ESI Dispensary Sector – 19, Faridabad, India for their partnership on this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Key messages
(1) The aim of this study was to investigate the health beliefs of people attending a state-run, free medical clinic in Faridabad, India.
(2) Patients and visitors attending the Faridabad clinic attributed their health outcomes to the will of God more than any other cause including their own behavior, the work of doctors, or chance.
(3) Contrary to traditional work on causal health beliefs, stronger agreement that health was determined by one's own actions was positively associated with also strongly agreeing that health was determined by chance events.
(4) The positive correlation between perceived internal and external causes of health underscores the holistic, integrated way in which the patients of the Faridabad clinic viewed their health.