Psychometric Testing of a New Scale Assessing the Reasons for Non-Utilisation of Health Care Services by People with Migration Backgrounds

• Published in: Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Ärzte des Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) Vol. 77; no. 10; p. 749
• Main Authors: Maier, I, Kriston, L, Härter, M, Hölzel, L P, Bermejo, I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: German
• Published: Germany 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Female; Germany; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Psychology; Psychometrics - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Utilization Review - methods; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1439-4421
• DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1395641

In Germany live a lot of migrants. Cultural and migration specific aspects seem to have an effect on utilisation of health care. There are no instruments that measure such factors of influence. A systematic literature research or article that identify the difficulties of the migrants in using the health care system, was made. The relevant aspects were explored during a health related opinion survey of migrants from former USSR, Turkey, Italy and Spain. The psychometric qualities of this questionnaire were investigated with factor and reliability analyses. There were 24 reasons identified for non-utilisation health care. They were combined in a questionnaire. The factor analysis showed 2-factor structure ("janguage und information related Reasons" Chronbach's α=0.928 and "experience with/attitude toward health care system", Chronbach's α=0.879). Furthermore, there was a total scale with Chronbach's α=0.945. The acceptance was between 80.0 and 96.3%. The results confirm the psychometric quality of this measuring instrument. For further generalisability more verification will be necessary.