Health competence as predictor of access to care among Latinos in Baltimore.
The goal of this study is to identify the underlying structure of Health Competence and its value as a predictor of access to care among the Latino population in Baltimore, Maryland. Data on a cross-sectional urban probability sample were collected from 330 foreign-born Latino men and women aged 21-75 years residing in Baltimore at the time of the survey. Principal components analysis yielded a two-component solution: the first component comprised "factors enabling" access to care; the second, "perceived barriers". When testing the predictive power of the Health Competence construct using model building and the log likelihood criteria the "enabling factors" added significantly (P < .005) to the power of the socio-demographic variables to predict access to care, making it an important tool for programs aiming to improve US Latinos' health.
Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA. ffonseca@jhsph.edu
Fannie
F
Fonseca-Becker
Maria J
MJ
Perez-Patron
Beatriz
B
Munoz
Michael
M
O'Leary
Evelyn
E
Rosario
Sheila K
SK
West
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015142:Baltimore; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011287:Prejudice; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult