Factors affecting access and use of preventive and weight management care: A public health lens

Abstract

Obesity is an important risk factor for various chronic diseases. While people with obesity use the health system more and incur higher costs, they may forego using preventive care services (e.g., gynecological cancer screenings) due to issues of service use and service access. The aim of this paper was to use a public health lens to elucidate system level factors that affect healthcare access and utilization for preventive and weight management care by patients with obesity. Some elucidated factors include lack of access to a Primary Care Provider (PCP) and multidisciplinary healthcare settings, gender of the PCP, duration of medical visits and health professionals' attitudes about obesity. We highlight potential strategies for leaders to use when improving access and use of health services by patients with obesity in Canada and the need for future empirical studies in this research area.