IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v161y2016icp64-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of patients’ immigration background and residence permit status on treatment decisions in health care. Results of a factorial survey among general practitioners in Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Drewniak, Daniel
  • Krones, Tanja
  • Sauer, Carsten
  • Wild, Verina

Abstract

This study examines the influence of patients’ immigration background and residence permit status on physicians’ willingness to treat patients in due time. A factorial survey was conducted among 352 general practitioners with a background in internal medicine in a German-speaking region in Switzerland. Participants expressed their self-rating (SR) as well as the expected colleague-rating (CR) to provide immediate treatment to 12 fictive vignette patients. The effects of the vignette variables were analysed using random-effects models. The results show that SR as well as CR was not only influenced by the medical condition or the physicians’ time pressure, but also by social factors such as the ethnicity and migration history, the residence permit status, and the economic condition of the patients. Our findings can be useful for the development of adequate, practically relevant teaching and training materials with the ultimate aim to reduce unjustified discrimination or social rationing in health care.

Suggested Citation

  • Drewniak, Daniel & Krones, Tanja & Sauer, Carsten & Wild, Verina, 2016. "The influence of patients’ immigration background and residence permit status on treatment decisions in health care. Results of a factorial survey among general practitioners in Switzerland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 64-73.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:161:y:2016:i:c:p:64-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616302672
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malhotra, Naresh K, 1982. "Information Load and Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(4), pages 419-430, March.
    2. Sabin, J.A. & Greenwald, A.G., 2012. "The influence of implicit bias on treatment recommendations for 4 common pediatric conditions: Pain, urinary tract infection, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and asthma," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 988-995.
    3. Hall, W.J. & Chapman, M.V. & Lee, K.M. & Merino, Y.M. & Thomas, T.W. & Payne, B.K. & Eng, E. & Day, S.H. & Coyne-Beasley, T., 2015. "Implicit racial/ethnic bias among health care professionals and its influence on health care outcomes: A systematic review," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(12), pages 60-76.
    4. Moskowitz, G.B. & Stone, J. & Childs, A., 2012. "Implicit stereotyping and medical decisions: Unconscious stereotype activation in practitioners' thoughts about African Americans," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 996-1001.
    5. Meike Müller-Engelmann & Norbert Donner-Banzhoff & Heidi Keller & Lydia Rosinger & Carsten Sauer & Kerstin Rehfeldt & Tanja Krones, 2013. "When Decisions Should Be Shared," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 33(1), pages 37-47, January.
    6. van Ryn, Michelle & Burke, Jane, 2000. "The effect of patient race and socio-economic status on physicians' perceptions of patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 813-828, March.
    7. Balsa, Ana I. & McGuire, Thomas G., 2001. "Statistical discrimination in health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 881-907, November.
    8. Joop J. Hox & Ita G. G. Kreft & Piet L. J. Hermkens, 1991. "The Analysis of Factorial Surveys," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 19(4), pages 493-510, May.
    9. Van Ryn, M. & Burgess, D. & Malat, J. & Griffin, J., 2006. "Physicians' perceptions of patients' social and behavioral characteristics and race disparities in treatment recommendations for men with coronary artery disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(2), pages 351-357.
    10. Lutfey, Karen E. & Link, Carol L. & Grant, Richard W. & Marceau, Lisa D. & McKinlay, John B., 2009. "Is certainty more important than diagnosis for understanding race and gender disparities?: An experiment using coronary heart disease and depression case vignettes," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 279-287, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Caspersen, Joakim & Paulsen, Veronika, 2023. "Discretionary decision making in child welfare – An experimental vignette study of the use of interpreter services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ursula Meidert & Godela Dönnges & Thomas Bucher & Frank Wieber & Andreas Gerber-Grote, 2023. "Unconscious Bias among Health Professionals: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-28, August.
    2. Maina, Ivy W. & Belton, Tanisha D. & Ginzberg, Sara & Singh, Ajit & Johnson, Tiffani J., 2018. "A decade of studying implicit racial/ethnic bias in healthcare providers using the implicit association test," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 219-229.
    3. Penner, Louis A. & Harper, Felicity W.K. & Dovidio, John F. & Albrecht, Terrance L. & Hamel, Lauren M. & Senft, Nicole & Eggly, Susan, 2017. "The impact of Black cancer patients' race-related beliefs and attitudes on racially-discordant oncology interactions: A field study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 99-108.
    4. Eric French & Elaine Kelly & Richard Cookson & Carol Propper & Miqdad Asaria & Rosalind Raine, 2016. "Socio‐Economic Inequalities in Health Care in England," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 371-403, September.
    5. Felix C.H. Gottschalk, 2019. "Why prevent when it does not pay? Prevention when health services are credence goods," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 693-709, May.
    6. Lutfey, Karen E. & Campbell, Stephen M. & Renfrew, Megan R. & Marceau, Lisa D. & Roland, Martin & McKinlay, John B., 2008. "How are patient characteristics relevant for physicians' clinical decision making in diabetes? An analysis of qualitative results from a cross-national factorial experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1391-1399, November.
    7. Dovidio, John F. & Penner, Louis A. & Albrecht, Terrance L. & Norton, Wynne E. & Gaertner, Samuel L. & Shelton, J. Nicole, 2008. "Disparities and distrust: The implications of psychological processes for understanding racial disparities in health and health care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 478-486, August.
    8. Shelton, Katherine H. & Haddock, Geoffrey & Ottaway, Heather, 2018. "The attitudes of medical professionals toward children and children at risk of separation from parents in Eastern Europe," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 26-33.
    9. Attanasio, Laura B. & Hardeman, Rachel R., 2019. "Declined care and discrimination during the childbirth hospitalization," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 270-277.
    10. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Siciliani, Luigi & Gutacker, Nils & Cookson, Richard, 2018. "Socioeconomic inequality of access to healthcare: Does choice explain the gradient?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 290-314.
    11. Street Jr., Richard L. & Gordon, Howard & Haidet, Paul, 2007. "Physicians' communication and perceptions of patients: Is it how they look, how they talk, or is it just the doctor?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 586-598, August.
    12. Jakobsson, Niklas & Kotsadam, Andreas & Syse, Astri & Øien, Henning, 2016. "Gender bias in public long-term care? A survey experiment among care managers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 126-138.
    13. Silvia Angerer & Christian Waibel & Harald Stummer, 2019. "Discrimination in Health Care: A Field Experiment on the Impact of Patients’ Socioeconomic Status on Access to Care," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(4), pages 407-427, Fall.
    14. Dominique H. Como & Lucía I. Floríndez & Christine F. Tran & Sharon A. Cermak & Leah I. Stein Duker, 2020. "Examining unconscious bias embedded in provider language regarding children with autism," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(2), pages 197-204, June.
    15. Adams, A. & Vail, L. & Buckingham, C.D. & Kidd, J. & Weich, S. & Roter, D., 2014. "Investigating the influence of African American and African Caribbean race on primary care doctors' decision making about depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 161-168.
    16. Burgess, Diana Jill & Crowley-Matoka, Megan & Phelan, Sean & Dovidio, John F. & Kerns, Robert & Roth, Craig & Saha, Somnath & van Ryn, Michelle, 2008. "Patient race and physicians' decisions to prescribe opioids for chronic low back pain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1852-1860, December.
    17. Senft, Nicole & Hamel, Lauren M. & Penner, Louis A. & Harper, Felicity W.K. & Albrecht, Terrance L. & Foster, Tanina & Eggly, Susan, 2018. "The influence of affective behavior on impression formation in interactions between black cancer patients and their oncologists," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 243-250.
    18. Lay-Yee, Roy & Scott, Alastair & Davis, Peter, 2013. "Patterns of family doctor decision making in practice context. What are the implications for medical practice variation and social disparities?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 47-56.
    19. Horton, Sarah, 2006. "The double burden on safety net providers: Placing health disparities in the context of the privatization of health care in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2702-2714, November.
    20. Freda F. Liu & Jessica Coifman & Erin McRee & Jeff Stone & Amy Law & Larissa Gaias & Rosemary Reyes & Calvin K. Lai & Irene V. Blair & Chia-li Yu & Heather Cook & Aaron R. Lyon, 2022. "A Brief Online Implicit Bias Intervention for School Mental Health Clinicians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-19, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:161:y:2016:i:c:p:64-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.