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Factors patients consider when accessing oral health care.
- Source :
- Australian Journal of Primary Health; 2021, Vol. 27 Issue 6, p503-508, 6p
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The aim of this cross-sectional study was to understand patients' perceived importance of clinic- and clinician-related factors and contextual characteristics that shape the importance ratings for factors patients consider when accessing oral health care. This study was conducted at Griffith University Dental Clinic, Gold Coast, Australia. Patients answered a self-administered questionnaire on demographics and perceived need for attendance, which constituted the explanatory variables. In the second part of the questionnaire, patients were asked to rate the importance of 17 items related to the provision and quality of oral health services using a five-point scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine the dimensionality of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 298 patients. The importance of some of the clinician-related factors, such as 'concern for patients' and 'access to specialist care', were associated with sex, age and employment status. EFA revealed a two-factor structure, which consisted of items related to clinician characteristics and clinic environment characteristics. Female participants had higher importance scores for clinic environment characteristics (mean (±s.d.) 38.00 ± 4.86 vs 35.45 ± 6.30; P < 0.05) and clinician characteristics (32.39 ± 2.85 vs 31.33 ± 3.39; P < 0.05) than male participants. In conclusion, various clinician- and clinic-related aspects were considered important for the provision and quality of oral health services, with the importance of these factors associated with some contextual characteristics. Application of Andersen's behavioural model of health services use provided a framework that offers important insights into patient beliefs and perceptions towards oral health services and can serve as a baseline for future studies in dental clinics across Australia. It is important to assess patient-rated importance of factors related to the provision of oral health services and contextual characteristics that determine the ratings of importance so that the utilisation of oral health services can be improved. This study explored the contextual characteristics that determine a patient's importance ratings for clinic- and clinician-related factors. The findings provide future directions for changes to improve the delivery and utilisation of oral health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- MEDICAL quality control
HEALTH services accessibility
DENTAL clinics
HEALTH facilities
ORAL health
CROSS-sectional method
ONE-way analysis of variance
MATHEMATICAL models
PATIENT satisfaction
PSYCHOLOGY
PATIENTS' attitudes
MEDICAL care use
SURVEYS
T-test (Statistics)
QUESTIONNAIRES
FACTOR analysis
CHI-squared test
CLINICAL competence
JUDGMENT sampling
DATA analysis software
MEDICAL needs assessment
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14487527
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Australian Journal of Primary Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 154237227
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/PY20205