Factors Associated with Delayed Care Among Women Veterans Actively Engaged in Primary Care.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101159262 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1931-843X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 15409996 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Womens Health (Larchmt) Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Larchmont, NY : Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., [2002]-
    • Subject Terms:
      Primary Health Care* ; Veterans*/psychology ; Veterans*/statistics & numerical data ; United States Department of Veterans Affairs* ; Health Services Accessibility*; Humans ; Female ; Middle Aged ; United States ; Adult ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/statistics & numerical data ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology ; Logistic Models
    • Abstract:
      Background: Delaying needed medical care contributes to greater health risks and higher long-term medical costs. Women Veterans with complex medical and mental health needs face increased barriers to timely care access. Objectives: In a sample of women Veterans with recent engagement in Veterans Administration (VA) primary care, we aimed to compare characteristics of women Veterans who delayed care in the past 6 months with those who did not and examine factors associated with self-reported delayed care. Our study aims to inform interventions focused on eliminating health care access disparities among women Veterans. Materials and Methods: An innovation to improve women Veterans' engagement and retention in evidence-based health care for cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction (CV Toolkit) was implemented across five primary care sites within the VA. Women Veterans who were exposed to at least one CV Toolkit component participated in a mailed survey ( n  = 253). We used multivariate logistic regression to model factors associated with delaying care, including trust in VA providers, positive mental health screening ( i.e. , positive screen for either depression or anxiety), traumatic experience, self-rated health, and age. Results: Women with any mental health symptoms (odds ratio [OR] 2.42, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.23-4.74) and women who had experienced a traumatic event (OR 2.61, 95%CI: 1.11-6.14) were significantly more likely to report delaying care. Conclusions: Our study identified high rates of delayed care-over one-third of respondents-among women Veterans with recent primary care engagement. Mental health symptoms were the most common reported reason for delay among those who delayed care. Clinical Trial registration: NCT02991534.
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Veterans; health services accessibility; mental health; women's health
    • Molecular Sequence:
      ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02991534
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240222 Date Completed: 20240528 Latest Revision: 20240529
    • Publication Date:
      20240530
    • Accession Number:
      10.1089/jwh.2023.0227
    • Accession Number:
      38386795