Long, J. orcid.org/0000-0002-6889-6195, Knowles, E., Bishop‐Edwards, L. et al. (1 more author) (2021) Understanding young adults’ reasons for seeking ‘clinically unnecessary’ urgent and emergency care : a qualitative interview study. Health Expectations, 24 (4). pp. 1535-1544. ISSN 1369-6513
Abstract
Background
Studies have identified young adults as more likely to use emergency departments for ‘clinically unnecessary’ problems, with limited similar evidence for emergency ambulance use. Media portrayals depict young adults as motivated by ‘convenience’, but little research has explored the reasons for their help-seeking behaviour.
Methods
Qualitative interviews with 16 young adults (18-30) considered by clinicians to have made unnecessary use of emergency ambulance, emergency department or an urgent GP appointment. Data analysis was informed by interpretive phenomenological analysis.
Findings
A number of interrelated factors contributed to participants’ decisions. They were anxious about the seriousness of their symptoms, sometimes exacerbated by reduced coping capacity due to poor mental health or life stresses. They looked to others to facilitate their decision making, who sometimes encouraged urgent contact. They wanted to avoid impact on existing day-to-day commitments including work or study. They had strong views about different health services, sometimes based on frustration with lack of resolution of on-going health problems. Convenience was not identified as a significant factor, although some actions could be interpreted in this light if the context was not considered.
Conclusions
Young adults make ‘clinically unnecessary’ use of urgent and emergency care for more than convenience. Their decisions need to be understood in relation to the complexity of their experience, including lack of confidence in making health-related decisions, lowered coping capacity and concern to maintain normal daily life.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commo ns Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | emergency medicine; health care-seeking behaviour; health service use; qualitative research; urgent care; young adults |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Jul 2021 12:41 |
Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2022 14:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/hex.13301 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:175558 |