Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/110420
Citations | ||
Scopus | Web of Science® | Altmetric |
---|---|---|
?
|
?
|
Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Factors influencing health care utilisation among Aboriginal cardiac patients in central Australia: a qualitative study |
Author: | Artuso, S. Cargo, M. Brown, A. Daniel, M. |
Citation: | BMC Health Services Research, 2013; 13(1):83-1-83-13 |
Publisher: | BioMed Central |
Issue Date: | 2013 |
ISSN: | 1472-6963 1472-6963 |
Statement of Responsibility: | Stella Artuso, Margaret Cargo, Alex Brown and Mark Daniel |
Abstract: | Background: Aboriginal Australians suffer from poorer overall health compared to the general Australian population, particularly in terms of cardiovascular disease and prognosis following a cardiac event. Despite such disparities, Aboriginal Australians utilise health care services at much lower rates than the general population. Improving health care utilisation (HCU) among Aboriginal cardiac patients requires a better understanding of the factors that constrain or facilitate use. The study aimed to identify ecological factors influencing health care utilisation (HCU) for Aboriginal cardiac patients, from the time of their cardiac event to 6-12 months post-event, in central Australia. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study was guided by an ecological framework. A culturally-sensitive illness narrative focusing on Aboriginal cardiac patients' "typical" journey guided focus groups and semi-structured interviews with Aboriginal cardiac patients, non-cardiac community members, health care providers and community researchers. Analysis utilised a thematic conceptual matrix and mixed coding method. Themes were categorised into Predisposing, Enabling, Need and Reinforcing factors and identified at Individual, Interpersonal, Primary Care and Hospital System levels. Results: Compelling barriers to HCU identified at the Primary Care and Hospital System levels included communication, organisation and racism. Individual level factors related to HCU included language, knowledge of illness, perceived need and past experiences. Given these individual and health system barriers patients were reliant on utilising alternate family-level supports at the Interpersonal level to enable their journey. Conclusion: Aboriginal cardiac patients face significant barriers to HCU, resulting in sub-optimal quality of care, placing them at risk for subsequent cardiovascular events and negative health outcomes. To facilitate HCU amongst Aboriginal people, strategies must be implemented to improve communication on all levels and reduce systemic barriers operating within the health system. |
Keywords: | Health care utilisation; facilitators/barriers to care; cardiovascular disease; Indigenous; Aboriginal |
Rights: | © 2013 Artuso et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
DOI: | 10.1186/1472-6963-13-83 |
Grant ID: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/402797 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT100100312 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-13-83 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest 3 Medicine publications |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
hdl_110420.pdf | 468.3 kB | Published version | View/Open |
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.