| PERSONAL ATTITUDES TOWARD HEALTH
In the spring of 1999,
Whatcom Coalition completed a survey of health concerns of the people of
Whatcom County. The purpose of the PATH (Personal Attitudes Toward Health)
survey was to identify the health issues of greatest interest and concern
for Whatcom County residents, as well as perceived barriers to and
resources for addressing health issues. The study was conducted to
identify personal and community health issues, determine where community
residents get information for health and identify barriers to and
resources for addressing health issues.
Survey respondents were asked open-ended questions and given a
list of twelve health issues that defined health in a very broad sense.
Respondents were asked about health issues in their personal lives
(individual and household) and those that affect the whole community.
Results of the Personal Attitudes Toward Health (PATH) Survey
found that the health issues of greatest concern to the residents of
Whatcom County are accessible health care, alcohol and other drug misuse,
environmental hazards, living wage jobs and affordable housing, poor
nutrition and lack of exercise and tobacco use. The results are further
broken down in the two charts below.
Additional
survey findings include:
- A distinction emerged between "personal/household" health concerns
and health concerns for the "people of Whatcom County." Access to health
care was identified as personal health concern, while misuse of alcohol
and other drugs were seen as health issues for the County as a whole.
Environmental hazards, cost of living issues (i.e. living wage jobs and
affordable housing), tobacco use, and poor nutrition and lack of
exercise, were seen as both personal and community health issues.
- "Lack of interest" (22%), time (17%) and "money" (16%) were the
major barriers seen as keeping people from dealing with their primary
health concern.
- No significant differences were found in the results based on if
survey participants lived in the City of Bellingham or the county.
- "Medical doctor" was most frequently mentioned (by 22% of
respondents) as the place they would go for information concerning
health issues they identified as the most serious.
- A little over half (51%) of the respondents said they, or someone in
their household belonged to an organization that helps to deal with
health issues. Of the 51% who said they belonged to an organization,
nearly half (48%) identified a religious institution as the organization
to which they belonged.
The survey was conducted for WCHC by the
Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC) at Washington State
University. SESRC completed 446 random telephone interviews in Whatcom
County households between May 4 and June 7, 1999 (before the June 10th
pipeline explosion). The survey margin of error is plus or minus 5%. |
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