ANDERSON BEHAVIORAL MODEL FOR HEALTH SERVICE UTILIZATION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY AMONG IMMIGRANTS IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Abstract

The population of immigrants in Malaysia has increased from 1.4 million back in 2000 to 5.3 million in 2018 besides the undocumented workers who are at high risk of poor physical, interaction problems and lack of health protection. This research has been carried out to study the immigrant populations awareness, accessibility and utilization of healthcare services based on Anderson’s Behavioural model among immigrants in Selangor, Malaysia. A cross sectional sampling technique involving immigrants at Selangor was carried out where a total of 271 respondents were assessed for their awareness regarding the availability, utilization and perception of the quality of healthcare services. Almost all of the immigrants reported being ted aware on the health services that are offered to immigrants although 47.2% of them expressed communication and language barriers to get the service. The majority of the immigrants can access to health service and 64.6% of the immigrants have sufficient information regarding healthcare services in Selangor, Malaysia. There is a relationship between the demographic data regarding their awareness and their perception regarding the service. Conclusion: Most of immigrants in Selangor, Malaysia has high level of awareness of the healthcare services and has good usage of the healthcare services. The limited access of the healthcare services is mostly among those with lower income (39.1%) or inadequate knowledge about healthcare (64.6%). Besides, nationalities of immigrants also one of the factors that contribute to usage of healthcare services and it low in Asia immigrants (86.3%).