Deciphering the Impact of Culture and Society on the Health Care Seeking Behavior of Emory University Students Open Access

Adams, Ayoka Masheila (2012)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/5q47rp55h?locale=en
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Abstract

Socio-cultural factors influence the health behaviors and outcomes of individuals. The
university population represents a unique and diverse population whose needs must be
understood and met by the institutions to which they belong. Understanding these needs, in
relation to health behavior, is important in developing programs to cater to the population. Thus,
the purpose of this thesis was to investigate the health care-seeking patterns of Emory University
students and determine if there were any differences due to nationality, race/ethnicity or gender.
The thesis also sought to investigate cultural and social factors that caused these differences.
Online surveys were conducted on one hundred and two (102) Emory University Students, as
well as, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve (12) of these survey respondents.
These instruments were used to extract data about patterns of frequency and type of service
utilization, barriers to health services access and factors affecting provider choice. The results
showed that there were a few differences in the patterns of utilization between national groups,
racial/ethnic groups and gender groups. However, it also showed that there were many
similarities, especially as it related to barriers affecting health services utilization and
determinants of provider choice.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction and Background to Research .................................................1

Introduction .............................................................................................................2
Research Question ...................................................................................................2
Key Terms ..............................................................................................................2
The Anthropological Connection ..................................................................................5
Background ...............................................................................................................8
U.S. Migration and Changing Demographics ...................................................................8
Migration, Diversity and Higher Education......................................................................9
Emory's Diversity ....................................................................................................11
Rationale ...............................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature Review ...................................................................................15
Non-Cultural Factors which Influence Healthcare Seeking Behavior ...................................17
Healthcare Seeking Behavior among University Students ................................................19
Race/Ethnicity ........................................................................................................20
Nationality .............................................................................................................24
Gender ..................................................................................................................26
Chapter 3: Methodology...........................................................................................29
Project Goals ..........................................................................................................30
Preliminary Research and IRB Approval ........................................................................30
Questionnaire and Interview Script Development ...........................................................30
Study Population and Recruitment ..............................................................................32
Sample Size ...........................................................................................................33
Data Collection........................................................................................................34
Data Analysis ..........................................................................................................34
Chapter 4: Results....................................................................................................36
Respondent Profile ...................................................................................................37
Health Care Services Utilization ..................................................................................42

Barriers to Health Services Utilization ..........................................................................55
Persons Who Influence Health Services Utilization ..........................................................61
Factors that Influence Provider Choice ........................................................................63
Chapter 5: Discussion and Limitations .......................................................................66

Discussion ................................................................................................................67
What Are The Differences?.........................................................................................67
What Are The Similarities?..........................................................................................72
Comparison to Expected Results .................................................................................75
Limitations ................................................................................................................79
Author Contextualization ...........................................................................................79
Sample Demographics ...............................................................................................80
Generalizations ........................................................................................................81
Time and Resource Constraints ..................................................................................81
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................82
Bibliography ............................................................................................................85
Appendix ................................................................................................................93
Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire .................................................................................94
Appendix 2: Interview Script .......................................................................................107

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