Describe the four stages of delay behavior. What are the likely causes of delay?? A delay is the time frame from which a symptom is recognized to the time that a person that decides to get tr

• Describe the four stages of delay behavior. What are the likely causes of delay? 

A delay is the time frame from which a symptom is recognized to the time that a person that decides to get treated (p. 167). There are four different types of delays: appraisal, illness, behavioral, and medical. 

Appraisal Delay: This occurs when a person decides to take the symptom seriously, such as getting a lump checked. 

Illness Delay: This occurs in the time between when someone realizes that a symptom is an illness and when to look for treatment. 

Behavioral Delay: This is the time between thinking about getting treatment and getting it. 

Medical Delay: This is known as the time frame between when someone decides to seek treatment, make an appointment and finally be able to attend said appointment. 

• Briefly explain the categories of people who use health services. 

There are different factors that lead people to use health services. Based on age, children and the elderly are the ones who primarily visit their doctors the most. There is a drastic decrease in services during the adolescent and young adulthood years which doesn't pick up until entering the later years of adulthood. Gender is another factor, as women tend to visit their doctors more than men do. There is a stigma that men are meant to be tough which leads them to ignore symptoms whereas women do not have to worry about this. Social class also makes a difference as the lower class who don't have enough money or don't have insurance are unable to seek services whereas those more fortunate do not have the same issue. 

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