Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep;27(5):1260-1270.
doi: 10.1111/hsc.12758. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Living environment, social support, and informal caregiving are associated with healthcare seeking behaviour and adherence to medication treatment: A cross-sectional population study

Erik Berglund  1 , Per Lytsy  1   2 , Ragnar Westerling  1
Affiliations

Living environment, social support, and informal caregiving are associated with healthcare seeking behaviour and adherence to medication treatment: A cross-sectional population study

Erik Berglund et al. Health Soc Care Community. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

Despite the well-known associations between local environment and health, few studies have focused on environment and healthcare utilisation, for instance healthcare seeking behaviour or adherence. This study was aimed at analysing housing type, behaviour based on perceived local outdoor safety, social support, informal caregiving, demographics, socioeconomics, and long-term illness, and associations with health-seeking and adherence behaviours at a population level. This study used data from the Swedish National Public Health Survey 2004-2014, an annually repeated, large sample, cross-sectional, population-based survey study. In all, questionnaires from 100,433 individuals were returned by post, making the response rate 52.9% (100,433/190,000). Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regressions were used to investigate associations between explanatory variables and the outcomes of refraining from seeking care and non-adherence behaviour. Living in rented apartment, lodger, a dorm or other was associated with reporting refraining from seeking care (adjusted OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.00-1.22), and non-adherence (adjusted OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.13-1.31). Refraining from going out due to a perceived unsafe neighbourhood was associated with refraining from seeking care (adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.51-1.67) and non-adherence (adjusted OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.17-1.36). Social support and status as an informal caregiver was associated with higher odds of refraining from seeking medical care and non-adherence. This study suggests that living in rental housing, refraining from going out due to neighbourhood safety concerns, lack of social support or informal caregiver status are associated with lower health-seeking behaviour and non-adherence to prescribed medication.

Keywords: adherence; healthcare utilisation; housing type; informal caregiving; neighbourhood; social support.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

References

    1. Agerholm, J. , Bruce, D. , Ponce de Leon, A. , & Burstrom, B. (2013). Socioeconomic differences in healthcare utilization, with and without adjustment for need: An example from Stockholm, Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 41(3), 318–325. 10.1177/1403494812473205 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ariza‐Montes, A. , Leal‐Rodriguez, A. L. , Rodriguez‐Felix, L. , & Albort‐Morant, G. (2017). Can an internal locus of control and social support reduce work‐related levels of stress and strain?: A comparative study between spanish owners and managers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 59(9), 903–912. 10.1097/jom.0000000000001096 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Austin, L. , Ewing, G. , & Grande, G. (2017). Factors influencing practitioner adoption of carer‐led assessment in palliative homecare: A qualitative study of the use of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT). PLoS ONE, 12(6), e0179287 10.1371/journal.pone.0179287 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baumgarten, M. , Battista, R. N. , Infante‐Rivard, C. , Hanley, J. A. , Becker, R. , Bilker, W. B. , & Gauthier, S. (1997). Use of physician services among family caregivers of elderly persons with dementia. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 50(11), 1265–1272. 10.1016/S0895-4356(97)00168-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bennett, G. G. , McNeill, L. H. , Wolin, K. Y. , Duncan, D. T. , Puleo, E. , & Emmons, K. M. (2007). Safe to walk? Neighborhood safety and physical activity among public housing residents. PLoS Medicine, 4(10), e306 10.1371/journal.pmed.0040306 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types