Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations University of Queenlsand Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

 
 


Research project

Ms Rosemary Korda
PhD Candidate

 

 

Doctorate Thesis: Socio-economic inequalities in women’s use of health care services in Australia
Supervisors: Professor Jim Butler, Dr Mark Clements, Dr Emily Banks. Advisor: Dr Jane Dixon
University: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National University.

Purpose of the study:
This project is part of a PhD thesis on socio-economic inequality in the use of health care in Australia, and the impact on health outcomes. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether or not there are inequalities in health care based on a person’s socio-economic status (SES, as measured by income, occupational and educational status, as well as area-level measures of SES).

The ALSWH data are being used to address the following research questions:
1. Is there socio-economic inequality in the use of ambulatory health care services once health status is taken into account?
2. What is the effect of health care cards and private health insurance on socioeconomic inequality in health service use?
3. What is the effect of accessibility of services, as measured by remoteness, on socio-economic inequality in health care use?
4. Have there been changes in inequality in health care use in the last ten years?
5. Is there socio-economic inequality in women’s ratings of access to health care services?

Data analysis is almost complete for questions 1-3. Preliminary results indicate significant inequality in the use of ambulatory health care services, favouring more advantaged women. This is true across a range of SES measures (including education, household occupation, household income, and area-level SES) and inequality measures. Pathway analyses indicate that health care cards protect against inequality in GP services, while inequality in use of specialist, allied health and dental services is partly mediated through private health insurance. Accessibility of services, as measured by remoteness, has little effect on socio-economic inequality in health care use, with similar patterns evident in city and regional/remote areas. Analyses of questions 4 and 5 are currently underway. All analyses will be repeated for the Younger and Older cohorts.

 
Link to Project Aims page Link to Project Progress page Link to Project Methods page Link to Project Progress page 		 


 
 

Last updated: 31 October 2006 by Cath Chojenta © Copyright