Abstract
Access to health care is a complex notion that has been explained in different ways by different authors. In the literature, the terms “access,” “availability,” and “utilization” have been used interchangeably to illustrate whether people’s care-related needs are provided effectively by the available health care services. Conceptualizations of access seek to understand the common elements outside of specific contexts; these concepts are then applied in the particular local contexts. Access to health care is recognized as the key influential factor for improved population health outcomes and health care system sustainability. Generally, access to health care is measured in relation to the utilization or availability of health care services. Many researchers had developed multiple dimensions to measure access to health care such as the behavioral model of Aday and Anderson (1974), and the three barrier-focused models of Penchansky and Thomas (1981), Russell et al. (2013), and Saurman (2016). The conceptual frameworks of access to health are categorized into two core approaches, which are the system-centered approach and the patient-centered approach. This chapter provides the history of the conceptual frameworks of access to health care in global public health and discusses some empirical research that applied these frameworks. Measuring access to health care could recognize barriers, in turn contributing effectively to addressing difficulties in order to improve access to health care services to many individuals who are in need to sensitive health care in their everyday lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aday LA, Anderson R (1974) A framework for the study of access to medical care. Health Serv Res 9:208–220
Anderson R, Newman JF (1973) Societal and individual determnants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc 51(1):95–124
Anderson KM, Diaz A, Parikh DR, Garvey G (2020) Accessibility of cancer treatment services for indigenous Australian in the Nothern territory: perspectives of patients and care providers. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-55368/v1
Blanas DA, Nichols K, Bekele M, Shankar H, Bekele S, Jandorf L et al (2014) Adapting the Andersen model to a francophone west African immigrant population: hepatitis B screening and linkage to Care in new York City. J Community Health 40(1):175–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-014-9916-9
Derose KP, Gresenz CR, Ringel JS (2011) Understanding disparities in health care access--and reducing them--through a focus on public health. Health Aff (Millwood) 30(10):1844–1851. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0644
Dutton D (1986) Financial, organizational and professional factors affecting health care utilization. Soc Sci Med 23(7):721–735
Forrest C, Starfield B (1998) Entry into primary care and continuity: the effects of access. Am J Public Health 88(9):1330–1336
Frenk J (1992) The concept and measurement of accessibility. In: White K (ed) Health services research: an anthology. Scientific Publication, pp 842–855
Hanssens LGM, Devisch I, Janique Lobbestaelrbara C, Willems S (2016) Accessible health care for Roma: a gypsys tale a qualitative in-depth study of access to health care for Roma in Ghent. Int J Equity Health 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0327-7
Harrison JAK, Thomson R, Banda HT, Mbera GB, Gregorius S, Stenberg B, Marshall T (2020) Access to health care for people with disabilities in rural Malawi: what are the barriers? BMC Public Health 20:1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08691-9
Kumi-Kyereme A, Seidu A-A, Darteh EKM (2020) Factors contributing to challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health services among young people with disabilities in Ghana. Global Social Welfare. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-020-00169-1
Levesque JF, Harris MF, Russell G (2013) Patient-centred access to health care: conceptualising access at the interface of health systems and populations. Int J Equity Health 12:18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-12-18
Liverani M, Nguon C, Sok R, Kim D, Nou P, Nguon S, Yeung S (2017) Improving access to health care amongst vulnerable populations: a qualitative study of village malaria workers in Kampot, Cambodia. BMC Health Serv Res 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2282-4
Matthews A, Walsh A, Brugha R, Manda-Taylor L, Mwale D, Phiri T et al (2019) The demand and supply side determinants of access to maternal, Newborn and child health services in Malawi. Matern Child Health J 23(11):1556–1563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-019-02791-8
Ooms GI, Kibira D, Reed T, van den Ham HA, Mantel-Teeuwisse AK, Buckland-Merrett G (2020) Access to sexual and reproductive health commodities in east and southern Africa: a cross-country comparison of availability, affordability and stock-outs in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. BMC Public Health 20(1):1053. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09155-w
Penchansky R, Thomas JW (1981) The concept of access: definition and relationship to consumer satisfaction. Lippincott Williams Wilkins 19(2):127–140. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3764310
Peters DH, Garg A, Bloom G, Walker DG, Brieger WR, Hafizur Rahman M (2008) Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1136(1):161–171. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1425.011
Reichard A, Sacco TM, Turnbull HR (2004) Access to health care for individuals with developmental disabilities from minority backgrounds. Ment Retard 42(6):459–470
Richard L, Furler J, Densley K, Haggerty J, Russell G, Levesque JF, Gunn J (2016) Equity of access to primary healthcare for vulnerable populations: the IMPACT international online survey of innovations. Int J Equity Health 15:64. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0351-7
Ricketts TC, Goldsmith LJ (2005) Access in health services research: the battle of the frameworks. Nurs Outlook 53(6):274–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2005.06.007
Russell DJ, Humphreys JS, Ward B, Chisholm M, Buykx P, McGrail M, Wakerman J (2013) Helping policy-makers address rural health access problems. Aust J Rural Health 21(2):61–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12023
Ryvicker M (2018) A conceptual framework for examining healthcare access and navigation: a behavioral-ecological perspective. Soc Theory Health 16(3):224–240. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-017-0053-2
Saurman E (2016) Improving access: modifying Penchansky and Thomas’s theory of access. J Health Serv Res Policy 21(1):36–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819615600001
Schnake-Mahl AS, Sommers BD (2017) Health care in the suburbs: an analysis of suburban poverty and health care access. Health Aff 36(10):1777–1785. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0545
Silva RBD, Contandriopoulos A-P, Pineault R, Tousignant P (2011) A global approach to evaluation of health services utilization: concepts and measures. Healthc Policy 6:e106–e117. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3107120/
Souliotis K, Hasardzhiev S, Agapidaki E (2016) A conceptual framework of mapping access to health care across EU countries: the patient access initiative. Public Health Genomics 19(3):153–159. https://doi.org/10.1159/000446533
Suurmond J, Rosenmöller DL, el Mesbahi H, Lamkaddem M, Essink-Bot M-L (2016) Barriers in access to home care services among ethnic minority and Dutch elderly – a qualitative study. Int J Nurs Stud 54:23–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.02.014
Tschirhart N, Nosten F, Foster AM (2016) Access to free or low-cost tuberculosis treatment for migrants and refugees along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak province, Thailand. Int J Equity Health 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0391-z
Ward B, Lane R, McDonald J, Powell-Davies G, Fuller J, Dennis S et al (2018) Context matters for primary health care access: a multi-method comparative study of contextual influences on health service access arrangements across models of primary health care. Int J Equity Health 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-018-0788-y
WHO (2015) Service availability and readiness assessment (SARA): an annual monitoring system for service delivery. Retrieved from Geneva
Yao J, Murray AT, Agadjanian V (2013) A geographical perspective on access to sexual and reproductive health care for women in rural Africa. Soc Sci Med 96:60–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.025
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Nguyen, A. (2023). Accessing Health Care in Global Public Health: The History of Conceptual Frameworks. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25110-8_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25110-8_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25109-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25110-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences