TY - JOUR
T1 - The importance of social cues for discretionary health services utilization
T2 - The case of infertility
AU - Greil, Arthur L.
AU - Shreffler, Karina M.
AU - Johnson, Katherine M.
AU - Mcquillan, Julia
AU - Slauson-Blevins, Kathleen
PY - 2013/5
Y1 - 2013/5
N2 - Infertility is a discretionary health condition; although it carries with it important life course implications, treatment is rarely necessary for health reasons. Sociological theories of medical help-seeking emphasize demographic factors, perceived need, and enabling conditions in health services utilization, but we find that social cues are also strongly associated with health services utilization for infertility. Adjusted for conventional predictors of medical help-seeking, several social cue indicators have significant associations with utilization, including having friends and family with children, perceiving infertility stigma, and having a partner and/or family member who encourages treatment. Perceived need accounts for the largest portion of the variation in utilization. Enabling conditions explain less of the variance than social cues. Social cues should be especially important for discretionary health services utilization. Studies of service utilization for discretionary health conditions should explicitly incorporate a range of measures of social cues into their models.
AB - Infertility is a discretionary health condition; although it carries with it important life course implications, treatment is rarely necessary for health reasons. Sociological theories of medical help-seeking emphasize demographic factors, perceived need, and enabling conditions in health services utilization, but we find that social cues are also strongly associated with health services utilization for infertility. Adjusted for conventional predictors of medical help-seeking, several social cue indicators have significant associations with utilization, including having friends and family with children, perceiving infertility stigma, and having a partner and/or family member who encourages treatment. Perceived need accounts for the largest portion of the variation in utilization. Enabling conditions explain less of the variance than social cues. Social cues should be especially important for discretionary health services utilization. Studies of service utilization for discretionary health conditions should explicitly incorporate a range of measures of social cues into their models.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876078898&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876078898&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/soin.12000
DO - 10.1111/soin.12000
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876078898
SN - 0038-0245
VL - 83
SP - 209
EP - 237
JO - Sociological Inquiry
JF - Sociological Inquiry
IS - 2
ER -