Factors associted with health care seeking behavior and health literacy among the old

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24530698
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social welfare and social work studies
• Research Institution: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
• Principal Investigator: MURATA Chiyoe 独立行政法人国立長寿医療研究センター, 老年社会科学研究部, 室長 (40402250)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUZUKI Kayo 愛知学院大学, 総合政策学部, 講師 (90624346) ; TSTTSUI Hideyo 帝京大学, 医学部, 助教 (30569330)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HARAOKA Tomoko 活水女子大学, 看護学部, 准教授 (90572280) ; KONDO Katsunori 千葉大学, 予防医学センター, 教授 (20298558)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 医師患者関係 / ヘルスリテラシー / ヘルスコミュニケーション / 受診中断

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Studies indicate that low health literacy often seen in people with low socio-economic status is related to poor communication with doctors. We aimed at exploring the association between patient-physician communication and health care seeking behavior among the old (65+). For that, we employed mixed-method approach using qualitative data (semi-structured interviews with 38 older persons) and quantitative data (JAGES 2013) (N=27,414). Poor patient-physician communication was strongly associated with delayed care. Especially, those who could not ask doctors questions were more likely to stop seeking care they needed during the past one year irrespective of their socio-economic status. Among older Japanese, the strongest predictor of “not seeking care when needed” was the lack of adequate communication with doctors. This implies that building a trusting patient-physician relationship contributes to a better treatment outcome.

Free Research Field

社会疫学