Factors that influence access to health care services in students of Semey state medical University, Kazakhstan

Medical students have close contact with health care services and possess special knowledge about health risk factors, but, all too frequently, they remain unhealthy. In this study, we determined the factors that influence access to health care services in Kazakhstan through identification of the differences in students based on access quality measured as a score of barriers to health care services, and assessment of the association of factors that influence access and quality of access to health care services. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a structured questionnaire of medical students from their first to the fourth year. The obtained results represent a response rate of 99.24% (1178 out of 1187 students). A half of the students, 51.7% (609), showed “Normal” and 48.3% (569) “Poor” access to health care services. There are significant differences of sex (p = 0.067), residency (p = 0.004), form of education (p = 0.029), perception of financial status (p < 0.001), scholarship assistance (p = 0.033), and self-assessed health status (p < 0.001). We performed multiple logistic analysis on confounding factors, which indicated that students who live alone were much more likely to have “Poor” access to health care services (OR: 1.37, p = 0.037), as well as to subjectively evaluate both their financial (OR: 1.67, p < 0.001) and health statuses (OR: 2.84, p < 0.001) as “Bad.” Factors that influence access to health care services include demographics, residence, form of education, financial status and scholarship assistance, self-assessed health status, and access barriers to health care services. Association of residency, financial and self-assessed health statuses identified that those factors can be associated with access to health care services in medical university students. Further study is needed to confirm the association of these factors with access to health care services. [Glushkova N, Rakhypbekov T, Madiyeva M, Kamasheva G, Goremykina M, Bayrkhanova A, Takamura N. Factors that influence access to health care services in students of Semey State Medical University, Kazakhstan. Life Sci J 2013;10(3):689-695] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 101