Barriers to accessing health care: the perspective of elderly people within a village community.
Many initiatives which emphasise the consumerist stance of patients make the apparent assumption that patients have the knowledge and desire to exercise their consumer rights. This study explores the extent to which there is a consumerist ethos among elderly people in a village community, and the factors which influence the accessing of health care in the community. Using a mini-ethnographic approach, nine key informants were observed and interviewed. Cultural factors were found to influence coping in health and illness, and in legitimising access to primary health care. No informant saw the need to exercise their rights as consumers of health care, suggesting that despite initiatives to involve patients as partners in health care, the hierarchical position of the elderly people in the village is unchanged from the days of the medical model in health care, and is a significant barrier to their use of health services.
Bentley
J M
JM
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London, James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, UK. jenny.bentley@kcl.ac.uk
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology; D028701:Patient Rights; D012423:Rural Health; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D013222:State Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014186:Transportation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data