Why do People Avoid Visiting Specialist Doctors? Answers from a Developing Country: Turkey Case

Abstract

Avoid seeking medical care deemed necessary has severe negative effects on health. Indeed, delayed presentation of patients puts a significant burden on healthcare costs. There is limited literature examining the avoidance behaviour of people. Our study explores the reasons for avoiding considering the Turkey case. TurkStat’s health research survey 2012 data is employed to examine why people avoid visiting the specialist doctor when needed to consult a specialist for healthcare service. Descriptive statistics analysis is conducted. It is seen that among 28,056 respondents 12.6% were avoiders. Compared to non-avoiders, avoiders were more likely to be female, to live in rural area, to make out-of-pocket health payments, to be illiterate and to have low income. Indeed, the avoiders were more likely to have worse perceived health, negative emotions, mental disorders, serious health problems and chronic diseases. It is found that for approximately one-third of avoiders’ the main reason for avoiding was high costs. 22% of the avoiders reported that they could not take time. The other avoiding reasons were organisational factors, fear of medical treatment/surgery, distance/transportation, late appointment dates, having nobody to accompany and non-supportive family/relatives. In Turkey, interventions combating healthcare avoidance behaviours in at-risk populations should be developed.