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Demographic and socio-cultural correlates of medical mistrust in two Australian states:Victoria and South Australia

journal contribution
posted on 2013-11-01, 00:00 authored by Andre Renzaho, Michael PolonskyMichael Polonsky, Z McQuilten, N Waters
Studies on medical mistrust have mainly focused on depicting the association between medical mistrust and access/utilization of healthcare services. The effect of broader socio-demographic and psycho-social factors on medical mistrust remains poorly documented. The study examined the effect of broader socio-demographic factors, acculturation, and discrimination on medical mistrust among 425 African migrants living in Victoria and South Australia, Australia. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, low medical mistrust scores (i.e., more trusting of the system) were associated with refugee (β=−4.27, p<0.01) and family reunion (β=−4.01, p<0.01) migration statuses, being Christian (β=−2.21, p<0.001), and living in rural or village areas prior to migration (β=−2.09, p<0.05). Medical mistrust did not vary by the type of acculturation, but was positively related to perceived personal (β=0.43, p<0.001) and societal (β=0.38, p<0.001) discrimination. In order to reduce inequalities in healthcare access and utilisation and health outcomes, programs to enhance trust in the medical system among African migrants and to address discrimination within the community are needed.

History

Journal

Health and place

Volume

24

Pagination

216 - 224

Publisher

Elsevier

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

1353-8292

eISSN

1873-2054

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2013, Elsevier