Profiles of Non-medical Drivers and Health Burden Associated With Care Seeking Among Rural Women

Non-medical drivers of health, including social, demographic, and geographic conditions, play an important role in shaping women's healthcare use in rural settings. How these intersecting factors form patterns that influence care seeking remains underexamined.

A cross-sectional survey (n = 159) was conducted through public health service sites across 29 rural counties in Texas, United States. K-means clustering identified groups of women with shared patterns of health burden, health-related social needs, and geographic proximity to care. Chi-square tests and one-way ANOVA assessed demographic differences, and a Generalized Linear Model estimated the proportion of times participants reported receiving needed care based on profile membership and demographics.

Seven clusters, interpreted as profiles, reflected variation in combinations of health burden, health-related social needs, and geographic proximity. Cluster membership and difficulty affording healthcare were significantly associated with higher odds of receiving needed care. Women in profiles characterized by multiple co-occurring constraints, as well as one profile marked by elevated health-related social needs, had significantly lower odds of receiving care compared to the reference profile with no constraints.

Findings suggest that profile-based, analytic approaches may help clarify differences in unmet care needs and inform more targeted efforts to address delayed or forgone care in rural settings.