ABSTRACT
Individual self-care arises as an option out of many when experiencing symptoms. Suggestions from the literature are that people do what is pragmatic and generally choose multiple treatments, conventional and alternative, in dealing with episodes of illness. These illness behaviours include: decisions to do nothing about symptoms; self-medication; non-medication self-treatment and decisions to consult professional providers. The notion of care provided by lay others, and its relationship to formal primary care services, is a complex one. The literature on social support and care provided by self-help groups has indirect relevance to help-seeking in primary care. Social support refers to emotional, instrumental and affirmational support as advocacy assistance. The benefits of self-help groups which have proliferated in the health care arena in recent years include the provision of mutual aid, information and support. These groups have been viewed as providing sources of supplementary support outside patients' existing social networks and a means of sharing long-term existential problems through emphatic mutual support.
