Is there a Relationship between Tolerance and the Healthcare Seeking Behaviours of Jamaicans?

Abstract

Tolerance plays an important role in one's opinion, behaviour, and choices. This research was piloted by 3 objectives:1) To investigate if there is a direct correlation between tolerance and attitude toward seeking health care, 2) To determine the tolerance levels of Jamaicans, and 3) To determine the type of health care preference of Jamaicans and why they seek that health care. A quantitative correlational research design was employed to examine the research topic. The population was selected using a convenience sampling (non-probability sampling). A questionnaire was developed using a web-based instrument consisting of 24 closed ended questions, of which 14 were items incorporated from the Distress Tolerance Scale by Simons & Gaher (2005). It was used to measure the tolerance level of the sampled respondents. A Likert scale was used to measure each question that ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The researchers utilized social media platforms such as Whatsapp, Instagram, and Facebook to disseminate the link to the survey questions with details to Jamaican males and females 18 years and older across the 14 parishes of Jamaica. The period of data collection was between September 24, 2021 and November 22, 2021. The data was stored and retrieved from Google forms. IBM Statistical Packaging for Social Sciences (SPSS) Windows version 25.0 was then used to analyze the data collected, presenting them in the form of percentages, diagrammatic representations (pie and bar charts) and frequency tables. The findings have shown that 84.11% of the sampled respondents prefer traditional healthcare, whereas 15.89% prefer non-traditional health care. 4.0% have a low tolerance level, 36.2% have a moderate tolerance level, 52.2% tolerance level is high while 7.6% have a very high tolerance level. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between the two aforementioned variables (????² critical = 9.348< ????² calculated 14.251, df=3 with 5% (0.025), P=0.003). Based on the finding the ????² calculated (14.64) is more than the critical value 9.348. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis which states there is no relationship between tolerance and healthcare seeking behaviours among Jamaicans. In conclusion, tolerance and health seeking behaviors are two variables that are closely linked. This plays an important role in a nation's health status, behaviour, choices and opinions about one’s health which contributes to maintaining of good health.