Associations between social support and access to healthcare among Filipino women living in Japan

This study investigated associations between social support and access to healthcare among Filipino women living in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. A cross-sectional design was used. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to Filipino women and collected 342 valid responses. Each participant was asked about her access to healthcare for her own health and for her youngest child’s health, and social support, as well as her socio-demographic characteristics. Of these respondents, 114 women (33%) did not have a usual source of care for themselves. Participants in our study had higher Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey scores than people living in other Southeast Asian countries. However, distribution of the score showed that there were outliers with low scores which were very different from the others. Women with the highest emotional/informational and tangible support score showed better access to healthcare (adjusted odds ratio=0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.10–0.50, and adjusted odds ratio=0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.17–0.85 respectively). Women with a Japanese husband also showed lower odds of no usual source of care (adjusted odds ratio=0.44, 95% confidence interval 0.20–0.95). On the other hand, there was no factors significantly associated with access to healthcare for their youngest child including social support. Emotional/informational and tangible support were crucial factors associated with access to healthcare among Filipino women in Aichi Prefecture.