Table 1.
Sociodemographics and important sources of health information between country groups
| Socio-demographic characteristics | Total sample N = 229 | Finnish group n = 128a | Greek group n = 101a | P b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age + | ||||
| Median (min, max) | 41 (19, 77) | 38 (20, 64) | 44 (19, 77) | 0.007 |
| Duration of illness (since the first contact with psychiatric services) | 0.006 | |||
| Median (min, max)+ | 13 (0, 56) | 16 (0, 47) | 11 (0, 56) | |
| Gender: N (%) | 0.006 | |||
| Male | 132 (58) | 61 (48) | 71 (70) | |
| Female | 97 (42) | 67 (52) | 30 (30) | |
| Marital status: N (%) | <.0001 | |||
| Single | 141 (62) | 97 (76) | 44 (43) | |
| Partnership/Married | 58 (25) | 22 (17) | 36 (36) | |
| Separated/Divorced | 26 (11) | 9 (7) | 17 (17) | |
| Widowed | 4 (2) | 0 (0) | 4 (4) | |
| Level of education: N (%) | <.0001 | |||
| No formal education | 3 (1) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | |
| Primary and middle school | 73 (32) | 20 (16) | 53 (52) | |
| High school | 56 (25) | 31 (24) | 25 (25) | |
| College or Vocational training | 64 (28) | 49 (38) | 15 (15) | |
| University degree | 33 (14) | 25 (20) | 8 (8) | |
| Employment status: N (%) | <.0001 | |||
| Unemployed | 51 (22) | 16 (13) | 35 (34) | |
| Social welfare benefit | 14 (6) | 2 (2) | 12 (12) | |
| Student | 10 (5) | 7 (5) | 3 (3) | |
| Disability pension | 124 (54) | 91 (71) | 33 (33) | |
| Employed (including sick leave) | 19 (8) | 5 (4) | 14 (14) | |
| Other | 11 (5) | 7 (5) | 4 (4) | |
| Living situation: N (%) | ||||
| Own household (with partner/family) | 56 (24) | 20 (16) | 36 (36) | <.0001 |
| Own household (alone) | 109 (48) | 87 (68) | 22 (22) | |
| Flat share | 5 (2) | 5 (4) | 0 (0) | |
| Parents’ household | 51 (22) | 8 (6) | 43 (42) | |
| Supported housing | 8 (4) | 8 (6) | 0 (0) | |
| Important sources of health informationc: N (%) | ||||
| Internet | 121 (53) | 76 (59) | 45 (45) | 0.16 |
| TV/Radio | 86 (38) | 48 (38) | 38 (38) | 0.11 |
| Books, medical encyclopaedias and leaflets | 117 (51) | 61 (48) | 56 (55) | 0.02 |
| Courses and lectures | 100 (44) | 41 (32) | 59 (58) | <.0001 |
| Newspapers, magazines | 76 (33) | 48 (38) | 28 (28) | 0.74 |
| Family, friends, colleagues | 141 (62) | 72 (57) | 69 (68) | 0.44 |
| Pharmacies | 144 (63) | 71 (56) | 73 (72) | 0.04 |
| Face-to-face contact with medical professionals | 203 (89) | 111 (87) | 95 (94) | 0.85 |
aPercentages inside the parentheses (%) refer to percentages within country
bFisher’s Exact Test
cNumber of the highest points (‘4 = Important’ and ‘5 = Very important’) coded together
+Kruskal-Wallis rank test used for comparisons between countries