Ecology of Medical Care - Utilisation of Health Care in Austria

NCT01261845 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 1368313575
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 3,500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

BACKGROUND: A proper understanding of the attitudes towards its own health status and concise estimates concerning the health seeking behavior of the different subgroups of a population are highly desirable. The structure of the Austrian population with regard to its age distribution and the proportion of people with immigrant backgrounds have been rapidly changing in recent years. Questions of allocating limited resources and meeting the needs of under-served populations have become increasingly important. However, data that could illuminate these issues are sparse and therefore obtaining them will be important for making sensible policy decisions. METHODS: A telephone survey of the Austrian population for the assessment of the occurrence of any health complaint and the subsequent help seeking behavior with special emphasize on under-served minority groups - migrant population, elder people, and female gender. AIMS: Our analysis of the data obtained should help to clarify some hitherto undocumented aspects and should provide the evidence for building a better health care infrastructure with equality of access and efficient coordination. We also hope that this information can help to allocate resources strategically according to needs and cost-efficiency in health care.

Conditions

Health Behavior

Keywords

Delivery of Health Care; Equity in Health Services; Ethnic Groups; Health Services Research; Health Surveys; Immigration; Referral and Consultation; Resource Allocation; Social Justice; Vulnerable Populations

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Prevalence of health complaints

  The occurrence of any health complaint and the subsequent help seeking behaviour with special emphasis on under-served minority groups.

  1 month

• Prevalence of dysphoric disorders

  The prevalence of depression and GAD will be assessed by the PHQ-2 and GAD-2 respectively.

  2 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Utilization of CAM

  1 month

• Utilization of Health Care Resources in Austria

  1 month

• Case vignettes for calibration of response measures

  1 month

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

The Austrian population 15 years and older .

You may qualify if:

• years and older

You may not qualify if:

• younger than 15 years

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Medical University of Vienna: lead
• National Bank of Austria: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Department for General Practice and Family Medicine, Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna

Vienna, Vienna, A-1090, Austria

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Pichlhofer O, Maier M. Unregulated access to health-care services is associated with overutilization--lessons from Austria. Eur J Public Health. 2015 Jun;25(3):401-3. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cku189. Epub 2014 Nov 23.

  PMID: 25417940 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Otto Pichlhoefer, MD

  MedUni Vienna

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: ECOLOGIC OR COMMUNITY
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: MD

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 16, 2010
• First Posted: December 17, 2010
• Study Start: February 1, 2010
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2011
• Study Completion: March 1, 2013
• Last Updated: April 20, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-04

Locations

AU (1)