A Conceptual Framework for Examining Healthcare Access and Navigation: A Behavioral-Ecological Perspective

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Environmental Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Healthcare navigation in the U.S. requires complex consumer skills.
• Barriers to navigation disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, exacerbating health disparities.
• Existing research on healthcare use and navigation lacks a comprehensive ecological perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a behavioral-ecological framework for investigating healthcare navigation.
• To examine how built, social, and healthcare infrastructure environments influence navigation ability.
• To identify factors contributing to health disparities in healthcare access.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework development integrating ecological and behavioral perspectives.
• Literature review of healthcare navigation, use, and ecological health models.
• Synthesis of individual and environmental factors influencing healthcare decision-making.

Main Results:

• Healthcare navigation is an ecologically informed process influenced by spatial distributions.
• Individual and environmental factors interact to shape healthcare service utilization.
• The framework provides a novel lens for understanding healthcare access.

Conclusions:

• The behavioral-ecological model offers a comprehensive approach to studying healthcare navigation.
• Understanding these ecological influences is crucial for developing interventions.
• This framework has significant implications for reducing health disparities through improved access.