Under and over demand and the use of personal health services: the problem of differential accessibility

Abstract

A questionnaire applied to a population sample allowed for the determination of values for each person on two scales: one measuring predisposition to assume the users' role and the other perception of possibility of use. They represent different degrees of accessibility to health services at the social factor level. These two dimensions were statistically related with a set of 5 predictors each. This was possible because all persons were also assigned values in each one of ten scales representing each predictor of the two basic dimensions. Measurements in the two basic scales allowed for the structuring of groups with different magnitudes of flows from states defined by those persons who perceive symptoms to states defined by those who demand services, on to states defined by those who actually received medical care in a two week period. This is a first step in the elaboration of flow models in the medical care subsystem, with emphasis on states that immediately precede the usual entra.