Friday, June 14, 2013

Foundation breaks down poll by region to show differences among Kentuckians' views on health topics and issues

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has released regional breakdowns of the Kentucky Health Issues Poll, conducted for it and the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati last fall. Each breakdown outlines respondents’ answers to various KHIP questions and then compares regional responses to statewide findings.

Statewide KHIP results showed that most Kentucky adults do not have dental insurance, view health-care costs as a financial burden, favor a statewide smoke-free law, support integration of mental-health and medical services, and say they need more information about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will impact them personally. The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky offered these snippets from the regional breakdowns, available by clicking each link:

Western Kentucky: Residents were less likely to have dental insurance and less likely to know someone who had experienced problems as a result of abusing prescription pain relievers.

Greater Louisville: Adults were more likely to have dental insurance, support the legalization of marijuana under any circumstance and be concerned with air quality.

Greater Lexington: Adults were less likely to have been prescribed a pain reliever that could not be purchased over the counter and less likely to change or limit their activities when they hear of an air quality alert being issued.

Northern Kentucky: Adults were less likely to have visited a dentist in the past year and less likely to have a favorable view of the Patient and Affordable Care Act.

Eastern Kentucky: Adults were more likely to rely on home remedies or over the counter drugs instead of going to the doctor and recognize that drug poisonings/overdoses were the leading cause of unintentional death in Kentucky.

“Local health issue data can be extremely useful for policymakers and health officials, especially those working on local initiatives to improve the health of their community,” said Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the foundation.

The poll was conducted Sept. 20 through Oct. 14 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.  A random sample of 1,680 adults from throughout Kentucky was interviewed by telephone, including landlines and cell phones.  The poll has a margin of error of plus or 5.3 percentage points. The poll is available online, under the “Data and Reports” tab on the foundation's website.

No comments:

Post a Comment