Help-Seeking Behavior Following a Community Tragedy: An Application of the Andersen Model

For healthcare agencies and other professionals to most efficiently provide aid following large scale community tragedies, agencies and professionals must understand the determinants that lead individuals to require and seek various forms of help. This study examined Andersen's Behavioral Model of Healthcare Use and its utility in predicting service use in a population of students at Virginia Tech following the shootings on April 16, 2007. Data were gathered from surveys given to students at Virginia Tech three months following the shootings and at a one year follow-up. Logistic regression was used to determine variables that predicted service use. Female gender, prior exposure to traumatic events, higher pre-event functioning, higher social support, higher levels of posttraumatic stress and higher psychological distress were found to be predictive of higher probability of service use. Exploratory hypotheses related to the prediction of outcomes as well as service use as a mediator between predictors and outcomes were also examined. Implications for the use of Andersen's model in predicting service use and equitable and efficient distribution of services are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Cowart, Brian Lamar

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Finney, Jack W.
• Jones, Russell T.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hughes, Michael D.
• Scarpa, Angela
• Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen

• healthcare use
• posttraumatic stress
• mass shootings
• college students

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:1935

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/24771