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This study evaluates cross-national differences in public beliefs about the causes of health and the role of these beliefs in shaping attitudes regarding health policy.

The study uses data from the 2011 International Social Survey Program, which includes questions on health and health care, asked in 29 countries. Respondents were asked about four specific causes of poor health (i.e., genes, behavior, the environment, and poverty). Respondents were also asked about their attitudes regarding three aspects of health policy: their support for government-provided care, the perceived fairness of income disparities in medical treatment, and their support for providing health care to noncitizens.

The study has three findings. First, the study reveals the global reach of a multicausal view. The four beliefs about the causes of poor health are positively correlated in all countries. However, there is considerable cross-national variation in the average support for specific causes. Although in some countries proximate causes, such as genes, are endorsed more frequently than distal causes, such as poverty, this is by no means a uniform pattern. Support for genetic causes is high, but genetic reductionism is rare. Second, the study reveals that health beliefs are fundamentally political beliefs. The single most important determinant of beliefs about the causes of health is the country in which the respondent resides, exceeding in influence religion, education, and even personal experiences with health and health care. Third, the study reveals that the political connotations of health beliefs vary between countries, especially beliefs regarding genes. In general, those who endorse behavioral arguments favor less government involvement in health care and are more accepting of income disparities in the quality of care. Those who endorse the environment and poverty, meanwhile, tend to support a stronger role of government. Yet, the magnitude of these associations varies and, in the case of genetic arguments, even the direction of the association varies. Genetic arguments are frequently associated with support for a stronger role of government, but genetic arguments also are occasionally associated with support for the exclusion of noncitizens from the health care system.

International survey research is valuable for exploring the scope of patterns revealed in a limited set of countries, but it is difficult to pinpoint the source of cross-national differences.

The study demonstrates the importance of national context in shaping health beliefs, as well as the role of beliefs regarding the causes of health in setting the stage for public receptivity to government-provided care. The study also illustrates the value of thinking about beliefs about genes as reflecting larger projects of biocitizenship, at least in some countries.

This chapter provides both an introduction to the volume and a brief review of literature on education and other social factors and health beliefs in health care services.

Literature review.

The chapter argues for the importance of greater examination of education, other social factors, and health beliefs in the use of health care services.

Reviews the issues of education, social factors, and beliefs and previews this volume.

This chapter presents information related to models and frameworks from the perspective of cultural competence in healthcare settings, such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Department of Health and Human Services, specifically the Office of Minority Health and Healthy People 2020. National health-related organizations such as the American Physical Therapy Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing provide scaffolding for educating future health professionals regarding providing culturally competent care. Research on effectiveness of professional development and integrating cultural competence into the curriculum will be presented along with suggestions for faculty interested in incorporating these models and practices into their courses.

This study aims to determine the impact of health-related views on mobile payment adoption in Sri Lanka from a broader viewpoint. The scale used to quantify each construct was based on earlier research, with modest alterations to fit the pandemic situation. First, an online survey was administered to undergraduates using convenience sampling to acquire appropriate replies. Eliminating incomplete and unusable questionnaires, 266 responses were gathered with an 88.7% response rate. Finally, after removing incomplete and ineffective questionnaires, 243 responses were selected for the analysis. Health consciousness, perceived ease of use, and usefulness have a significant positive relationship between attitude and behavioural intention to mobile payments. Moreover, the attitude has a significant positive relationship with mobile payment usage. As the health consciousness increases the usefulness and intention to use mobile payments, bank managers can focus on this new customer segment. Accordingly, they can use their promotional campaigns to highlight the importance of shifting towards m-payments during the pandemic times. This is the first study that investigates the role of health-related perceptions on the mobile payment adoption in Sri Lanka to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

This study set out to examine whether personal religiosity was in any way associated with adolescents’ propensity to seek out formal mental health care.

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study uses logistic regression models to test for an association between personal religiosity and mental health services use net of depressive symptomology and demographic controls.

Results showed a negative, statistically significant relationship between personal religiosity and mental health services use. Highly religious adolescents had lower odds of having seen a mental health professional compared to their less religious counterparts even after controlling for depressive symptomology.

Data restrictions required that we limit our analysis to one specific form of mental health services: talk therapy. Nevertheless, this study suggests that religiosity represents a potentially important consideration in addressing the mental health needs of adolescents.

To our knowledge, this is the first study in which a nationally representative sample of adolescents is used to examine the relationship between personal religiosity and mental health services use.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a topic of research and as an approach within the health care delivery system has become increasingly accepted. Aided by the holistic movement, and after a century and a half of striving for legitimacy, CAM is also increasingly becoming more accepted by mainstream medicine. This chapter reviews the social sources of disparities in use of CAM, with a greater focus on English-speaking countries, and especially the US. This chapter will briefly highlight the basic underlying principles of CAM as linked to its history and discuss types of CAM. The major focus of this chapter will be a review of the literature on social factors and use of CAM, looking at such factors as age, gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity and immigration status, and health status. As part of this, we will also discuss the integration of CAM and conventional care. In conclusion, future directions for social science research in CAM will be discussed, specifically elaborating on the importance of the social sciences linking CAM with other growing interests in health and wellness.