Associations of Generalized Trust and Social Participation at the Individual Level with Unmet Healthcare Needs in Communities with High Mortality

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether generalized trust and/or social participation at an individual level have negative associations with unmet healthcare needs. METHODS: Door-to-door interviews were conducted by trained interviewers to collect information. The 8,800 study participants included 220 adults sampled systematically using the resident registration database from 40 sub-municipal-level administrative units in Korea. Unmet healthcare needs were measured subjectively by the following question: “During the past 12 months, was there ever a time when you felt that you needed healthcare (excluding dental care) but did not receive it?” The responses were classified as either “yes” or “no.” RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for unmet healthcare needs based on one positive response, two positive responses, and three positive responses to the three items of generalized trust compared to no positive responses were 0.92 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77–1.09), 0.90 (95% CI, 0.74–1.09), and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.61–0.87), respectively. The adjusted ORs for unmet healthcare needs based on social participation only in informal organizations, only in formal organizations, and in both informal and formal organizations compared to no social participation were 0.83 (95% CI, 0.71–0.98), 0.97 (95% CI, 0.77–1.21), and 0.97 (95% CI, 0.82–1.15), respectively. The covariates included in the multiple logistic regression were sociodemographic variables (gender, age, marital status, educational level, occupation, food security, and administrative unit), self-rated health, and perceived stress. CONCLUSION: Therefore, generalized trust and social participation in informal organizations can decrease the incidence of unmet healthcare needs.