Association between Health Perception and Stigma Perception with Access to Healthcare Services among Patients attending a Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic in Bangkok Metropolitan
Keywords:
access to healthcare services, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) clinic, Bangkok provinceAbstract
This cross-sectional study aimed at determining factors related to healthcare services access by patients attending a sexually transmitted infections (STIs) clinic in Bangkok. The sample group consisted of 410 individuals. Data were collected using systematic sampling. The research instrument was a paper-based questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square statistics and Spearman’s rank correlation statistics were analyzed.
The research findings revealed that the majority of patients were male (63.17%), followed by LGBTQ+ individuals and females (18.54% and 18.29%), respectively. The largest age group were between 25-34 years old (42.44%), with an average age of 33.63±9.51 years. The level of access to healthcare services was high 92.20% (mean 4.37, S.D. 0.46). The analysis found that personal factors had no statistically significant association with access to healthcare services (p > 0.05). Health perception and stigma perception showed moderated correlations with access to healthcare services (r = 0.403, 95% CI: 0.316, 0.483 and r = -0.336, 95% CI: -0.421, -0.244), which were statistically significant at the 0.01 level (p < 0.01).
STIs clinics can be applied as a guideline for managing and improving the quality of health services, such as matching physicians to the gender of patients, and developing effective communication skills among healthcare providers to reduce stigma.
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