| dc.description.abstract | The present research attempted to determine whether or
not individuals' perceptions of serious heart disease and
cancer would differentially affect health locus of control
beliefs, as measured by the Multidimensional Health Locus of
Control (MHLC) scales. Study 1, a within-subjects design,
assessed the health locus of control beliefs of 33 introductory
psychology students under three separate sets of
instructions - no special instructions, "imagine having suffered
a heart attack" instructions, and "imagine having
cancer" instructions. As predicted, serious heart disease
was seen to result in greater internal health locus of control
beliefs, than cancer. Cancer was seen as resulting in
greater chance health locus of control beliefs than serious
heart disease. Both of these life-threatening illnesses
were perceived as resulting in greater involvement of powerful
others when compared to non life-threatening illnesses.
Study 2, a between subjects design, was then conducted using
94 introductory psychology students. The results from this
study generally confirmed the findings of Study 1, with the
exception of the nonsignificant differences found between
the chance health locus of control beliefs of these three
groups. Study 3, a between-subjects design, was conducted
using a clinical population of 20 "worried well" patients,
20 "serious heart disease" patients, and 20 "cancer" patients.
The results from this study were again consistent with the findings of the previous two studies. These
results appear to suggest that individuals' beliefs and
attitudes about different life-threatening illnesses affect
their health locus of control beliefs. Treatment implications
are offered as well as suggestions for further
research. | |
