Use of Allied Health Services in Rural Northern Victoria, Australia.

Area of Science:

• Rural Health
• Allied Health Services
• Socio-demographics

Background:

• Limited understanding of socio-demographic factors influencing allied health service utilization in rural Australia.
• Need to identify specific factors associated with accessing various allied health modalities in regional settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate socio-demographic associations with the use of different allied health services in a rural Victorian region.
• To determine which demographic factors correlate with the utilization of audiology, optometry, podiatry, psychology, physiotherapy, pharmacy advice, and social work services.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of the Crossroads-II population health study data.
• Utilized generalized linear mixed models for statistical analysis.
• Randomly selected households via local government area lists, with data collected through door-to-door surveys.

Main Results:

• Age positively correlated with audiology, optometry, and podiatry use, while negatively with psychology.
• Gender influenced service use: females had lower audiology odds but higher optometry and pharmacy advice odds.
• Being Australian-born, speaking English at home, higher education, and unemployment status were associated with increased use of specific allied health services, particularly psychology, social work, and pharmacy advice.

Conclusions:

• Socio-demographic factors demonstrate varied associations across different allied health disciplines in rural Victoria.
• Observed relationships indicate that socio-demographic characteristics play a role in accessing all studied allied health modalities.
• Further research is recommended to explore these relationships in other rural contexts and with different allied health services.