Introduction. Currently, there are insufficient studies on identifying personal factors among people with serious health problems who are reluctant to seek care at medical organisations. In order to develop measures aimed at higher commitment of the population of the Russian Federation to care seeking and health promotion, an observational study was conducted to identify peculiarities of people's behaviour when encountering health problems. Materials and methods. The study used a questionnaire method with a questionnaire consisting of 43 questions with a breakdown on five blocks. Results. The study shows that one of the important factors of irrational health behaviour is a feeling of shame when seeking health care. Irrational health behaviour was characteristic of individuals who were confident in their ability to recognise symptoms of an emerging illnesses and knew what to do to alleviate those symptoms. Those who professed any religion (or considered themselves to be of any religion) and chose “love, family, children, home” and “health” as the dominant values, have higher chances of rational health behaviour. The study has also identified a number of socio-economic factors associated with certain personal characteristics influencing health behaviour. Conclusion. Thus, the personal factors identified by the study are valuable for developing interventions to stimulate rational health behaviour among citizens.