Blog #5

Health Beliefs and Women’s Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy Review

Even as we become more advanced in our technology and create more ways to fight serious diseases, we remain rather stumped when it comes to the study of women who have menopause.  Hormone replacement therapy has been a treatment available for years now, however the complications linked to its use create debate over whether it is worth taking. The article titled “Health Beliefs and Women’s Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy” touches the topic of whether they feel they should take HRT in correlation to a questionnaire that asks questions about preventative measures called the HBM. The HBM poses questions related to barriers they feel are present in their care.  The HBM asks these questions:

1. People do not believe they are susceptible to this disease.


      2. People believe that if they contracted the disease, it would not have serious effects on their lives.

      3. People do not know the positive effects of actions, to avoid the disease or problem.

      4. The perceived threat of taking necessary action is greater than the disease.

      5. There is no driving force for many people to be healthy.

      6. People may not feel competent to overcome perceived barriers to taking action.

According to the study, the more barriers listed by the participants the least likely they were to take HRT. Vice Versa, the less barriers indicated by the participant, the more likely they were to take HRT to help them with their symptoms.  What seemed to be the trend in this study was the fact that most of the participants were Caucasian women as well as healthcare workers. It was not possible for the study to include a wider variety of race or socioeconomic models, most participants made more than $80,000 annually. I personally concluded in this study the possibility that women with this degree of education and income will be less likely to listen to perceptions of HRT but be more objective in the information of its use based on true statistics.  This is a topic to continue studying as there are continuous streams of information coming often.

References

McGinley, Anne. Health Beliefs and Women's Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy. Hollistic Nursing Practice. 2004.