Abstract
With the aim of exploring the factors that promote medical consultation and preparation for consultation during the new coronavirus pandemic, we developed a scale to measure preparation for consultation and then examined the factors that affect medical consultation and preparation for consultation. We asked 3,937 monitors registered with an Internet survey company to respond to questions about “mental health care threats” and “brain fatigue” in March, and about “behavior in the last six months,” “details of malaise,” “preparation behavior,” “use of social resources,” “threat of infection with the new coronavirus,” and “predicted incidence of infection with the new coronavirus” in September. The results of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis showed that “help-seeking”, which is one of the factors of preparation for medical consultation, increases the tendency to consult a doctor. Therefore, we examined the factors that affect help-seeking, and found that sleep disorders, weight gain or loss, anxiety about mental health care diagnosis, perception of the seriousness of mental health care diagnosis, and consulting with family, friends, SNS, or the internet increased the tendency to seek help, while anxiety about mental health care institutions, perception of the seriousness of infection with the new coronavirus, and living in a rural area decreased the tendency to seek help. The results showed that there are few factors that can directly promote medical consultations, but there are various factors that can promote preparatory actions for medical consultations, suggesting that it may be possible to indirectly lead to medical consultations by promoting preparatory actions for medical consultations.
