Original Article    OPEN ACCESS

Self-reported health and medical care-seeking behaviour of uninsured Jamaicans

Paul Andrew Bourne, PhD.
Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences
The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, WI.

Citation: Bourne PA. Self-reported health and medical care-seeking behaviour of uninsured Jamaicans. North Am J Med Sci 2010; 2: 71-80.    
Doi: 10.4297/najms.2010.271
Availability: www.najms.org
ISSN: 1947 – 2714

Abstract
Background: On examination of the literature in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in particular Jamaica, no study could be found that investigated the health and health care-seeking behaviour of uninsured people. This study bridges the gap in the literature by evaluating uninsured Jamaicans’ medical care-seeking behaviour and good health status. Material & Method: The study extracted a sample of 5,203 uninsured respondents 15 years and older from a national probability cross-sectional survey of 6,782 Jamaicans. Descriptive statistics were used to provide background information on the sample; cross-tabulations evaluated bivariate analyses, and logistic regression was used to model health and medical care-seeking behaviour. Results: Good health of uninsured Jamaicans is correlated -reported biological condition (OR =0.114, 95% CI = 0.090 -0 .145) followed by age (OR =0.952, 95% CI = 0.946- 0.959); gender (OR = 1.501, 95% CI = 1.221–1.845); consumption (OR = 1.000, 95% CI = 1.000–1.000); social class (upper class OR = 0.563, 95% CI = 0.357–0.888); education (secondary and above OR = 0.622, 95%CI = 0.402–0.963), and area of residence (other towns OR = 1.351, 95% CI = 1.026–1.778).  Medical care-seeking behaviour is associated with age (OR = 1.020, 95% CI = 1.006 – 1.033); poor health status (OR = 2.303, 95% CI = 1.533–3.461), and marital status (married OR = 0.518, 95% CI = 0.325–0.824). Conclusion: The findings are far reaching and provide an understanding of the uninsured, and the information can be used to aid public health intervention and education programmes. 

Keywords: Uninsured, health status, self-reported illness, medical care-seeking behaviour, public health, Jamaica

Correspondence to: Paul Andrew Bourne, Research Fellow, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston 7, Jamaica. . Email: paulbourne1@yahoo.com.