title: The influence of gender and other patient characteristics on health care-seeking behaviour: a QUALICOPC study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Canadians' health care-seeking behaviour for physical and mental health issues was examined using the international Quality and Cost of Primary Care (QUALICOPC) survey that was conducted in 2013 in Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used the cross-sectional Patient Experiences Survey collected from 7260 patients in 759 practices across 10 Canadian provinces as part of the QUALICOPC study. A Responsive Care Scale (RCS) was constructed to reflect the degree of health care-seeking behaviour across 11 health conditions. Using several patient characteristics as independent variables, four multiple regression analyses were conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients' self-reports indicated that there were gender differences in health care-seeking behaviour, with women reporting they visited their primary care provider to a greater extent than did men for both physical and mental health concerns. Overall, patients were less likely to seek care for mental health concerns in comparison to physical health concerns. For both women and men, the results of the regressions indicated that age, illness prevention, trust in physicians and chronic conditions were important factors when explaining health care-seeking behaviours for mental health concerns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms the gender differences in health care-seeking behaviour advances previous research by exploring in detail the variables predicting differences in health care-seeking behaviour for men and women. The variables were better predictors of health care-seeking behaviour in response to mental health concerns than physical health concerns, likely reflecting greater variation among those seeking mental health care. This study has implications for those working to improve barriers to health care access by identifying those more likely to engage in health care-seeking behaviours and the variables predicting health care-seeking. Consequently, those who are not accessing primary care can be targeted and policies can be developed and put in place to promote their health care-seeking behavior.
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University Family Medicine Teaching Unit, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, 700 Priestman Street, PO Box 9000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Ashley E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University Family Medicine Teaching Unit, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, 700 Priestman Street, PO Box 9000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5N5, Canada.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Anisimowicz
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University Family Medicine Teaching Unit, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, 700 Priestman Street, PO Box 9000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5N5, Canada. baukje.miedema@horizonnb.ca.
authors.forename: Baukje
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miedema
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hogg
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Walter P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Wodchis
authors.affiliation: Memorial University, St. John's, NL, Canada.
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aubrey-Bassler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Gender; Health care-seeking behaviour; Primary care