How Sociodemographic Characteristics May Affect the Thermal User's Perception of Illness, Quality of Life, Sleep Quality and Disability. A Portuguese Case Study

Alcina Nunes (), Ana Margarida Pereira, Estelle Gonçalves, Jéssica Alves and Maria José Alves
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Alcina Nunes: UNIAG, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Ana Margarida Pereira: Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Estelle Gonçalves: Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Jéssica Alves: Instituto Politécnico de Bragança
Maria José Alves: CIMO, Laboratório Colaborativo AquaValor, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança

A chapter in Recent Advancements in Tourism Business, Technology and Social Sciences, 2024, pp 653-672 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Literature shows that thermal spas’ users seek thermal spas for therapeutic and wellness reasons. If the effective improvement in the user's health status needs to be confirmed by clinical tests, the perceived improvement in the user's quality of life may be assessed using different validated quality of life scales like the EQ-5D-5L or the EUROHIS-QOL-8. Moreover, it is possible to use validated scales like BaSIQS to determine sleep quality, the HAQ-DI to evaluate the user's disability awareness, and the B-IPB to assess illness perception. All these scales were applied to a sample of users of the thermal treatments in Termas de Chaves, the second-biggest thermal spa in Portugal, before and after 14 days of treatment, allowing to gather an important set of statistical data to assess the evolution of the user's perception illness, quality of life, sleep quality and disability. Therefore, this research aims to understand if the sociodemographic characteristics of thermal users influence the results obtained. Therefore, a binomial logistic regression is applied to identify the user's features that affect the differences in the user's perception before and after treatments. The results show that, in general, after treatments, the users’ perception is positive. However, only some characteristics of the users are statistically significant to explain such users’ perceptions.

Keywords: Thermal spas; EQ-5D-5L; EUROHIS-QOL-8; BaSIQS; HAQ-DI; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I30 Z30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-54342-5_41

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-54342-5_41

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