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Symptom Reporting: A Focus on Process

  • Chapter
Illness Behavior

Abstract

Why is symptom reporting important? This question can be answered from at least three perspectives: a) that of public health; b) that of medicine; and c) that of the lay person. From the public health perspective, symptom reports obtained in household surveys provide a major source of data on the incidence and prevalence of a variety of diseases (Dingle, 1973). Survey data is particularly valuable in tracking acute infectious and epidemic conditions such as the flu (Dingle, 1973), as well as chronic conditions for which there is no special reporting system or registry such as exist for cancer. These numbers can play a critical role in the detection and control of disease and are important for planning and public health policy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, USA

    Howard Leventhal

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  1. Howard Leventhal
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Sean McHugh  & T. Michael Vallis  & 

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Leventhal, H. (1986). Symptom Reporting: A Focus on Process. In: McHugh, S., Vallis, T.M. (eds) Illness Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5257-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5257-0_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5259-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5257-0

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