Perceived need for medical care in the geriatric general medical population: Relationship to neuropsychological and psychological function

Insight is a multidimensional construct used in the psychiatric literature to refer to topics, such as awareness of symptoms of illness, awareness of consequences of illness, and perceived need for treatment. The primary aim of the present investigation was to examine both neuropsychological (i.e., executive, attention, and memory skills) and psychological contributions (i.e., depression and anxiety) to one component of insight (i.e., perceived need for medical care) among geriatric inpatients with multiple medical problems. Retrospective chart review involved analysis of data from 47 men who completed a battery of neuropsychological and psychological tests. Findings indicated that perceived need for medical care was significantly and positively related to performance on a test of executive function measuring verbal social reasoning, but not to performance on other tests of cognitive or emotional function. Theoretical and clinical implications of this result are discussed.