title: Self-Rated Health and Health Care Access Associated With African American Men's Health Self-Efficacy.
abstract: Health self-efficacy, a measure of one's self-assurance in taking care of their own health, is known to contribute to a range of health outcomes that has been under examined among African American men. The purpose of this investigation was to identify and contextualize predictors of general health self-efficacy in this population. A cross-sectional sample of surveys from 558 African American was examined. These men were older than 18 years, could read and write English, and attended a hospital-based community health fair targeting minority men in 2011. The outcome of interest was health self-efficacy, which was assessed by asking, "Overall, how confident are you in your ability to take good care of your health?" Responses ranged from 1 ( not confident at all) to 5 ( completely confident). Covariates included age, self-rated health, health insurance status, having a regular physician, and being a smoker. The mean age of participants was 54.4 years, and 61.3% of participants indicated confidence in their ability to take good care of their health. Older age and being a smoker were inversely associated with the outcome. Good self-rated health, having health insurance, and having a regular doctor were positively associated with reports of health self-efficacy. Findings suggest that multiple points of connection to the health care system increase the likelihood of health self-efficacy for this sample and interventions to support older African American men who may evaluate their own health status as poor and who may face barriers to health care access are implicated.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Vicki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Johnson-Lawrence
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Daphne C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.affiliation: 3 The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Modlin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health; D000076206:Patient Generated Health Data; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: access to care; development and aging; men of color; men’s studies; psychosocial and cultural issues; special populations