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Community preferences in general practice: important factors for choosing a general practitioner.
- Source :
-
Health Expectations . Feb2016, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p26-38. 13p. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Background: Understanding the important factors for choosing a general practitioner (GP) can inform the provision of consumer information and contribute to the design of primary care services. Objective: To identify the factors considered important when choosing a GP and to explore subgroup differences. Design: An online survey asked about the respondent's experience of GP care and included 36 questions on characteristics important to the choice of GP. Participants: An Australian population sample (n = 2481) of adults aged 16 or more. Methods: Principal components analysis identified dimensions for the creation of summated scales, and regression analysis was used to identify patient characteristics associated with each scale. Results: The 36 questions were combined into five scales (score range 1–5) labelled: care quality, types of services, availability, cost and practice characteristics. Care quality was the most important factor (mean = 4.4, SD = 0.6) which included questions about technical care, interpersonal care and continuity. Cost (including financial and time cost) was also important (mean = 4.1, SD = 0.6). The least important factor was types of services (mean = 3.3, SD = 0.9), which covered the range of different services provided by or co‐located with the practice. Frequent GP users and females had higher scores across all 5 scales, while the importance of care quality increased with age. Conclusions: When choosing a GP, information about the quality of care would be most useful to consumers. Respondents varied in the importance given to some factors including types of services, suggesting the need for a range of alternative primary care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13696513
- Volume :
- 19
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Health Expectations
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 112464351
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12326