Factors Related to the Utilization of In-patients Health Services in Iran: Application of Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use

Knowledge about health care utilization and its determinants are important for health care planning. Andersen’s behavioral model of health services use is one of the most widely acknowledged models identifying predictors of health care utilization is the. According to Andersen’s model, factors associated with utilization of health services include predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need factors (health status). The purpose of this study is to identify the factors related to the utilization of inpatients health services in Iran, according to the Andersen’s behavioral model.

The present study is a secondary analysis of two waves of the Utilization of Health Services Survey conducting in the years of 2007 and 2015. The samples were 8326 and 5684 in 2007 and 2015, respectively. The Logistic regression model was used to analyze utilization of inpatient health services.

It was found that women (OR=1/48, P-value≤0/01), older patients (OR=1/01, P-value≤0/05), referral patients (OR=1/98, P-value≤0/01), those living in a household with a head educated more than diploma(OR=1/65, P-value≤0/01), and patients living in deprived areas of the country (OR=1/42, P value≤0/01) were more likely to use inpatient services. Furthermore, the odd of using inpatient health services were higher in the year of 2015 (OR=2/15, P-value≤0/01).

Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services can be a good theoretical framework to explain the determinants of inpatient health services utilization in Iran. These factors should be considered for making policies related to inpatient health services in Iran.