For healthcare agencies and other professionals to most efficiently provide aid following large scale community tragedies, agencies and professionals must understand the determinants that lead individuals to require and seek various forms of help. This study examined Andersen's Behavioral Model of Healthcare Use and its utility in predicting service use in a population of students at Virginia Tech following the shootings on April 16, 2007. Data were gathered from surveys given to students at Virginia Tech three months following the shootings and at a one year follow-up. Logistic regression was used to determine variables that predicted service use. Female gender, prior exposure to traumatic events, higher pre-event functioning, higher social support, higher levels of posttraumatic stress and higher psychological distress were found to be predictive of higher probability of service use. Exploratory hypotheses related to the prediction of outcomes as well as service use as a mediator between predictors and outcomes were also examined. Implications for the use of Andersen's model in predicting service use and equitable and efficient distribution of services are discussed. / Ph. D.

<p>Variations in the rate of use of health care services (a.k.a. medical practice variations) have been described in the literature for over eighty years. The literature suggests three general sources of variation: patients, physicians, and environment. The relative influence of these sources and the specific mechanisms that produce observed variations are not well understood. This thesis presents four studies that identify and examine methodological issues that preclude our ability to understand the variation phenomenon.</p> <p>It is commonly believed that the physician is in part responsible for observed variation in health care services use. However, determining the influence of the physician in this regard is problematic, as it is difficult to isolate the effect of the physician from that of the patient and environment (including available resources). The first study presented in this thesis suggests there is meaningful variation in treatment recommendations between physicians working in a common environment, even after controlling for important patient clinical characteristics. Next, I present an experiment that suggests that factors related to the patient’s unique social context might influence how the physician intends to manage a patient’s care. As variations studies do not measure or adjust for social context, this might indicate an important methodological limitation of those studies if indeed context is an important (and justifiable) determinant of what care the patient will receive.</p> <p>Not all variation is necessarily bad. The third study I present explores how previous researchers discriminate between warranted and unwarranted variation. This study indicates that few researchers explicitly do so, and that a clear, consistent, and functional definition of unwarranted variation is lacking – a feature that potentially limits the interpretation of study results. The final study argues that traditional methods for examining regional variations are inadequate for informing health care managers because they examine variation in health care service use rather than needs.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Yes / Objectives Congenital anomaly (CA) are a leading cause of disease, death and disability for children throughout the world. Many have complex and varying healthcare needs which are not well understood. Our aim was to analyse the healthcare needs of children with CA and examine how that healthcare is delivered. Design Secondary analysis of observational data from the Born in Bradford study, a large prospective birth cohort, linked to primary care data and hospital episode statistics. Negative binomial regression with 95% CIs was performed to predict healthcare use. The authors conducted a subanalysis on referrals to specialists using paper medical records for a sample of 400 children. Setting Primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services in a large city in the north of England. Participants All children recruited to the birth cohort between March 2007 and December 2011. A total of 706 children with CA and 10 768 without CA were included in the analyses. Primary and secondary outcome measures Healthcare use for children with and without CA aged 0 to <5 years was the primary outcome measure after adjustment for confounders. Results Primary care consultations, use of hospital services and referrals to specialists were higher for children with CA than those without. Children in economically deprived neighbourhoods were more likely to be admitted to hospital than consult primary care. Children with CA had a higher use of hospital services (β 1.48, 95% CI 1.36 to 1.59) than primary care consultations (β 0.24, 95% CI 1.18 to 0.30). Children with higher educated mothers were less likely to consult primary care and hospital services. Conclusions Hospital services are most in demand for children with CA, but also for children who were economically deprived whether they had a CA or not. The complex nature of CA in children requires multidisciplinary management and strengthened coordination between primary and secondary care. / research by a PhD candidate supported by a Bradford University studentship, in conjunction with the White Rose Consortium, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Yorkshire and Humber programme 'Healthy Children Healthy Families Theme', IS-CLA-0113-10020.

Background: The impact children with complex healthcare needs have on the healthcare system is significant and requires a multidisciplinary response. Congenital anomaly (CA) is a group of conditions requiring complex and variable input from primary and secondary healthcare. This thesis explores the literature on health system preparedness for children with complex healthcare needs and quantitatively describes healthcare use for a population of children with CA, an exemplar for children with complex healthcare needs. Methods: Routine health data from primary care was explored to identify children with CA and linked to secondary care data, outpatient records, and questionnaire data from a multi-ethnic prospective birth cohort over a five-year period. Rates of CA were calculated and healthcare use for children with and without CA was analysed. Results: Out of a birth cohort of 13,857 children, 860 had a CA. Using primary care data for children aged 0 to 5 years, the number of children with CA was found to be 620.6 per 10,000 live births, above the national rate of 226.5 per 10,000 live births. Healthcare use was higher for children with CA than those without CA. Demand for use of hospital services for children with CA was higher (Incident rate ratio (IRR) 4.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.90 to 4.92) than demand for primary care services (IRR, 1.27, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.35). Conclusion: These results suggest that using primary care data as a source of CA case ascertainment reveals more children with CA than previously thought. These results have significant implications for commissioning healthcare services for children with complex healthcare needs.

This research examines the viability of a need-based approach that models the age-trajectories of healthcare utilization. We propose a fundamentally different way of treating age in modeling healthcare use. Rather than treating age as a need indicator, we refocus modeling efforts to predicting the age-trajectories of healthcare use. Using inpatient hospital utilization data from the Discharge Abstract Database, first, we model the age-trajectories of the rate of hospital use employing a common functional form. Second, we assess variation in these age-trajectories using growth curve modeling. Third, we explain variation in these age-trajectories using census variables. Our analysis shows that the regional variation in the age-trajectories of the rate of inpatient hospital use is sufficient to justify this method, and could be partially explained using census variables. This indicates that modeling age-trajectories of healthcare use is advantageous, and the current need-based approach may benefit from this new modeling strategy.

Objectif : Des recherches antérieures ont identifié une mauvaise utilisation des soins prénataux chez les migrants sans assurance maladie au Canada. Cependant, les facteurs qui influencent cette utilisation restent largement inexplorés. L'objectif de cette étude était de quantifier l'utilisation des soins prénataux dans ce groupe et d'identifier les barrières et les facteurs facilitant l'utilisation des soins prénataux. Méthodes : Une étude transversale sur les migrants sans assurance maladie à Montréal, Canada, a été menée entre janvier 2016 et août 2017. Les participants ont été recrutés dans une clinique bénévole locale et dans la communauté en utilisant un échantillonnage à partir de lieux et en boule de neige. Les mesures des résultats comprenaient l'utilisation des soins prénataux, l'initiation des soins prénataux et l'adéquation des soins prénataux. L'analyse de régression a identifié les barrières et les facteurs facilitant l'utilisation des soins prénataux. Résultats : 125 grossesses antérieures au Canada ont été recensées parmi 101 femmes. 65.0% des grossesses impliquaient une utilisation des soins prénataux et 44.6% impliquaient un début tôt des soins. Parmi les 62 grossesses menées à terme, 29.5% ont reçu des soins prénataux adéquats. Les femmes ≥35 ans (OR 0.13, IC à 95%: 0.03-0.54, p = 0.01), entre 18 et 24 ans (OR 0.30, IC à 95%: 0.09-0.99, p=0.049), et celles qui ne savaient pas où consulter (OR 0.25, IC à 95%: 0.06-0.99, p=0.049) avaient significativement moins de chances (p <0.05) d’utiliser les soins prénataux. Les femmes âgées de 30 à 34 ans (OR 0.27, IC à 95%: 0.10-0.72, p=0.01) avaient significativement moins de chances (p <0.05) de commencer tôt les soins prénataux. En revanche, les femmes mariées ou en union de fait (OR 3.16, IC à 95%: 1.04-9.62, p=0.04) avaient significativement plus de chances (p <0.05) de commencer tôt les soins prénataux. Conclusion : Notre étude a révélé que l'utilisation des soins prénataux chez les migrants sans assurance était très faible. Les facteurs influençant l'utilisation des soins prénatals étaient variés et liés à la démographie, au réseau social et à la migration. Les politiques futures devraient viser à améliorer l'accès aux soins prénatals au sein de cette population vulnérable. / Objective: Previous research has identified poor prenatal care use among uninsured migrants in Canada, however, the factors influencing this usage remain largely unexplored. The study objective was to quantify the use of prenatal care among this group and to identify the barriers and facilitating factors to prenatal care use. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of uninsured migrants in Montreal, Canada was carried out between January 2016 and August 2017. Participants were recruited from a local volunteer clinic and from the community using venue-based and snowball sampling. Outcome measures included prenatal care use, prenatal care initiation, and prenatal care adequacy. Regression analysis identified barriers and facilitating factors to prenatal care use. Results: 125 previous pregnancies in Canada were identified among 101 women. 65.0% of pregnancies involved prenatal care use and 44.6% involved an early initiation of care. Among the 62 pregnancies carried to term, 29.5% received adequate prenatal care. Women ≥35 years of age (OR 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03-0.54, p=0.01), between the ages of 18-24 (OR 0.30, 95% CI: 0.09-0.99, p=0.049), and those who did not know where to consult (OR 0.25, 95% CI: 0.06-0.99, p=0.049) were significantly less likely (p<0.05) to use prenatal care. Women aged 30-34 (OR 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10-0.72, p=0.01) were significantly less likely (p<0.05) to initiate prenatal care early. In contrast, women who were married or in common-law relationships (OR 3.16, 95% CI: 1.04-9.62, p=0.04) were significantly more likely (p<0.05) to initiate prenatal care early. Conclusion: Our study found that prenatal care use among uninsured migrants was very poor. Factors influencing prenatal care use were varied and related to demographics, social network, and migration. Future policy should aim to improve access to prenatal care among this vulnerable population.