豪雪過疎地域における住民の保健関連行動(特に民間療法に関する)とその背景

抄録

This study explores health-related behavior and its sochial-psychological background of the inhabitants in Oshima-mura, a typical sparsely depopulated area, Higashi-kubiki County, Niigata Prefecture. After having interviewed several households about healthrelated behavior in general, we conducted a questionnaire survey of the heads of 140 households examining statistically the relationship between health-related behavior and its social-psychological background. The results are summarized as follows: 1) Users of unorthodox medicine are not limited to elderly people. A significant difference in the rate of utilizing unorthodox medicine is not found between people of 65 years or more and the others. And the older people are, the more they use preventive measures to maintain health. 2) Anxiety about the insufficiency of the medical care concerned is independent of that about their own health. Preventive health behavior is associated with the former, but not with the latter. And the more they are anxious about their own health, the more they tend to use unorthodox medicine. 3) Age is associated strongly with some of social-psychological variables and healthrelated behavior. Though it is not associated with anxiety about their own health, the older people are, the less anxious about the medical care concerned they are. 4) From the findings above, unorthodox medicine in the area concerned functions complementarily rather than opposedly to orthodox medicine. 5) We think that an interview and a questionnaire survey in two steps is an effective method studying health and medical care in a local area.