title: Social networks and the probability of having a regular family doctor.
abstract: Social supports have been shown to affect health in a variety of ways. This paper explores a hitherto ignored avenue linking social supports to health, namely through their influence on having a regular family doctor. We examine the role played by social supports in helping to explain why a significant portion of the Canadian population does not have a regular family doctor even though primary care is fully covered by the public insurer and when having a regular physician is associated with better care and with access to specialists. Five Canadian Community Health Surveys spanning 2001 to 2010 (n = 13,872 to n = 30,814) are employed, containing information on three measures of social support: sense of belonging to the local community, how often an individual has someone to confide in, and number of close friends and relatives. We find evidence of a positive link between social supports, especially sense of belonging, and having a regular doctor. Our results suggest that the benefits associated with policies geared towards community development and strengthening neighborhoods may also include facilitating access to primary-care physicians and, importantly, improving the matching of patients with regular family doctors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada. Electronic address: radevlin@uottawa.ca.
authors.forename: Rose Anne
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Devlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rudolph-Zbarsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D036262:Empirical Research; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000600:supply & distribution; D011336:Probability; D012944:Social Support; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Canada; Economic; Primary-care; Sense of belonging; Social supports