THE INTENTION TO UTILIZE OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH SERVICES

Workers' intention to utilize the Occupational Health Service (OHS), c onceived as a cost-benefit assessment of an action, is described for a series of conceivable situations. Data were acquired during interview s with a sample of 313 employees with an over-representation of worker s with work-related health problems in three different companies. Only for problems that are perceived as medical, individual and work-relat ed, do a substantial number of workers intend to utilize the occupatio nal physician. For health and work-related problems oi a collective ch aracter, the line of supervision is mostly preferred for use as an adv iser. Workers' intention to utilize OHS is positively correlated with their attitude towards the occupational physician. No associations wer e found with self-reported health status, working environment or actua l utilization of the OHS. It is concluded that the intention to utiliz e the OHS is an independent factor affecting the actual utilization an d it should be seriously taken into consideration when evaluating or i mplementing the coverage by the OHS.