The increasing number of uninsured Americans is a crucial policy issue for the United States; however, there is a paucity of empirical social science research on the uninsured with which to guide the development of policy. Previous research indicates that when insurance is voluntary, whether offered through a state-initiated reform to reduce uninsurance or offered through an employer as a benefit, some people choose to remain uninsured. The literature calls for research to increase understanding of the factors that affect whether people offered insurance accept or decline that insurance. Research on the uninsured is lacking a theoretical framework to help researchers and policymakers understand, predict, and explain why some people decline insurance and remain uninsured. Previous research suggests that while cost is a primary factor, there are other, unknown factors that contribute to uninsurance. The current research seeks to fill the gaps in the literature by using the Health Belief Model as a framework to explore relationships between insurance status and beliefs about insurance. Five constructs are of focus in the Health Belief Model: susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action.
This study, employing cross-sectional survey methods, is an observational, descriptive, and exploratory study seeking to establish relationships between demographic characteristics, health beliefs, and insurance status. The population under study is insurance-eligible, insured and uninsured employees of a large, state university, where 24% of insurance-eligible employees decline to participate in employer-offered voluntary health insurance benefits. Data were collected through a telephone survey of employees (n=140) selected through a stratified random sample.
A Pearsons correlation coefficient was calculated to examine the relationship between insurance status and various dimensions of beliefs as framed by the health belief model. Findings show a significant positive correlation between insurance status and cues to action and significant negative relationships between insurance status and barriers and insurance status and benefits. This study provides insights into the social barriers to health insurance participation. The results of this study suggest that the Health Belief Model is a useful framework with which to study the uninsured.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01282004-033349 |
| Date | 28 January 2004 |
| Creators | Murray, Jill Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Lilly Allen, William G. Archambeault, Rebecca Chaisson, Cecile Guin, Catherine Lemieux, Brij Mohan, Carol O'Neil |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01282004-033349/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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