IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v91y2009i1p63-70.html

What does it mean to trust a health system?: A qualitative study of Canadian health care values

Author

Listed:
  • Abelson, Julia
  • Miller, Fiona A.
  • Giacomini, Mita

Abstract

Objectives We used a qualitative empirical study of Canadians' values toward their health system to develop more meaningful conceptualizations of trust and health systems that can inform the pursuit of more trustworthy health systems.Methods We convened nine focus groups in three Canadian cities in 2002 and 2004 in conjunction with a national public opinion telephone survey of Canadians' attitudes and values toward their health system. Health system trust emerged as a significant theme in focus group discussions and was investigated using a modified grounded theory approach.Findings Respondents construct cleavages and alliances to position themselves in relation to different features of the trusted health system. The health system and Canadian Medicare are identified sources of trust just as are individual health care providers. Core to the trust relationship is the experience of vulnerability which provides the impetus for placing trust (in providers, governments and health systems) or seeds distrust, mistrust and resilience in the same.Conclusions We offer a more robust conceptualization of what it means to trust a health system. Policy maker efforts to intervene to restore lost trust could usefully be informed by these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Abelson, Julia & Miller, Fiona A. & Giacomini, Mita, 2009. "What does it mean to trust a health system?: A qualitative study of Canadian health care values," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 63-70, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:91:y:2009:i:1:p:63-70
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168-8510(08)00256-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilson, Lucy, 2005. "Editorial: building trust and value in health systems in low- and middle-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1381-1384, October.
    2. Goold, Susan Dorr & Klipp, Glenn, 2002. "Managed care members talk about trust," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 879-888, March.
    3. Gilson, Lucy, 2003. "Trust and the development of health care as a social institution," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1453-1468, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Felix Gille & Caroline Brall, 2020. "Public trust: caught between hype and need," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(3), pages 233-234, April.
    2. Hunter, P.V. & Ward, H.A. & Puurveen, G., 2023. "Trust as a key measure of quality and safety after the restriction of family contact in Canadian long-term care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 18-27.
    3. Groenewegen, Peter P. & Hansen, Johan & de Jong, Judith D., 2019. "Trust in times of health reform," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 281-287.
    4. Dahai Zhao & Hongyu Zhao & Paul D. Cleary, 2019. "International variations in trust in health care systems," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 130-139, January.
    5. Bombard, Yvonne & Abelson, Julia & Simeonov, Dorina & Gauvin, Francois-Pierre, 2011. "Eliciting ethical and social values in health technology assessment: A participatory approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 135-144, July.
    6. Kruk, Margaret E. & Freedman, Lynn P. & Anglin, Grace A. & Waldman, Ronald J., 2010. "Rebuilding health systems to improve health and promote statebuilding in post-conflict countries: A theoretical framework and research agenda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 89-97, January.
    7. Factor, Roni & Kang, Minah, 2014. "Priority setting in health care as portrayed in South Korean and Israeli newspapers," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 226-235.
    8. Grignon Michel, 2012. "Roadblocks to Reform: Beyond the Usual Suspects," Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series 2012-01, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
    9. Mauro ROMANELLI, 2017. "Towards Sustainable Health Care Organizations," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 377-394, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arakelyan, Stella & Jailobaeva, Kanykey & Dakessian, Arek & Diaconu, Karin & Caperon, Lizzie & Strang, Alison & Bou-Orm, Ibrahim R. & Witter, Sophie & Ager, Alastair, 2021. "The role of trust in health-seeking for non-communicable disease services in fragile contexts: A cross-country comparative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    2. Adelman, Sarah W. & Essam, Timothy M. & Leonard, Kenneth L., 2008. "Idle Chatter or Learning? Evidence from Rural Tanzania of Social Learning about Clinicians and the Health System," Working Papers 42884, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    3. Megan M McLaughlin & Louis Simonson & Xia Zou & Li Ling & Joseph D Tucker, 2015. "African Migrant Patients’ Trust in Chinese Physicians: A Social Ecological Approach to Understanding Patient-Physician Trust," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Groenewegen, Peter P. & Hansen, Johan & de Jong, Judith D., 2019. "Trust in times of health reform," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 281-287.
    5. Mohseni, Mohabbat & Lindstrom, Martin, 2007. "Social capital, trust in the health-care system and self-rated health: The role of access to health care in a population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1373-1383, April.
    6. Leonard, Kenneth L. & Adelman, Sarah W. & Essam, Timothy, 2009. "Idle chatter or learning? Evidence of social learning about clinicians and the health system from rural Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 183-190, July.
    7. Dell D. Saulnier & Christabel Saidi & Theresa Hambokoma & Joseph M. Zulu & Juliet Zulu & Felix Masiye, 2024. "Truth, humane treatment, and identity: perspectives on the legitimacy of the public and private health sectors during Covid in Zambia," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Habibov, Nazim & Cheung, Alex & Auchynnikava, Alena, 2017. "Does social trust increase willingness to pay taxes to improve public healthcare? Cross-sectional cross-country instrumental variable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 25-34.
    9. Dincer, Oguzhan & Gillanders, Robert, 2021. "Shelter in place? Depends on the place: Corruption and social distancing in American states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    10. Meyer, Samantha B. & Coveney, John & Henderson, Julie & Ward, Paul R. & Taylor, Anne W., 2012. "Reconnecting Australian consumers and producers: Identifying problems of distrust," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 634-640.
    11. Arthur Chisanga & Simbeye Tinker Saul & Steven Daka & Esther Masebe & Remmy Mulenga & Dorothy Banda & Mwape Kabangasheshe & Mary Chimwala & Florence Mukupo & Wezi Kachinda & Kaziwe Simpokolwe & Emmanu, 2024. "Community Engagement in Solid Waste Management: An In-Depth Analysis of Household Participation and Practices in Chelstone Township in Lusaka, Zambia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(4), pages 2168-2194, April.
    12. Schneider, Pia, 2005. "Trust in micro-health insurance: an exploratory study in Rwanda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1430-1438, October.
    13. Stephen Okumu Ombere, 2025. "Enhancing Intersectoral Collaboration in Maternal Healthcare for the Realization of Universal Health Coverage in Kenya: The Perspectives of Health Facility Administrators in Kilifi County, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(4), pages 1-12, April.
    14. Harris, Magdalena & Rhodes, Tim & Martin, Anthea, 2013. "Taming systems to create enabling environments for HCV treatment: Negotiating trust in the drug and alcohol setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 19-26.
    15. Brownlie, Julie & Howson, Alexandra, 2006. "'Between the demands of truth and government': Health practitioners, trust and immunisation work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 433-443, January.
    16. Coast, Joanna, 2018. "A history that goes hand in hand: Reflections on the development of health economics and the role played by Social Science & Medicine, 1967–2017," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 227-232.
    17. Vetter, Philipp & Boecker, Klaus, 2012. "Benefits of a single payment system: Case study of Abu Dhabi health system reforms," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 105-114.
    18. Smirnova, Michelle & Owens, Jennifer Gatewood, 2017. "Medicalized addiction, self-medication, or nonmedical prescription drug use? How trust figures into incarcerated women's conceptualization of illicit prescription drug use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 106-115.
    19. Thiede, Michael, 2005. "Information and access to health care: is there a role for trust?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1452-1462, October.
    20. Dorien Vanden Bossche & Sara Willems & Peter Decat, 2022. "Understanding Trustful Relationships between Community Health Workers and Vulnerable Citizens during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Realist Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:91:y:2009:i:1:p:63-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.