ArticlePloS one2021
Perceived barriers to the uptake of health services among first-year university students in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-Care from Anywhere: Evaluating the usability of an AI-powered HIV toolkit among adolescent girls and young women and healthcare providers in South Africa.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Campus healthcare workers' knowledge and views on injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis prior to rollout in South Africa: A qualitative study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Designing Artificial Intelligence-Powered Health Care Assistants to Reach Vulnerable Populations: A Discrete Choice Experiment Among South African University Students.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2025Article
- HPV vaccine knowledge, attitude, and programme satisfaction among parents and caregivers of vaccine recipients in Ogun state Nigeria.Reproductive health · 2024Article
- Feasibility Testing of a Health Literacy Intervention With Adolescents and Young Adults in South Africa: The LifeLab Soweto Programme.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Rural Friendship Bench: A qualitative study in Zaka district, Zimbabwe.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Prevention method preferences and factors influencing hypothetical choice among women in South Africa: a survey exploring opportunities for a multipurpose prevention technology implant.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Article
- Understanding school-going adolescent's preferences for accessing HIV and contraceptive care: findings from a discrete choice experiment among learners in Gauteng, South Africa.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Ethical and methodological reflections: Digital storytelling of self-care with students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a South African University.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Healthcare seeking patterns for TB symptoms: Findings from the first national TB prevalence survey of South Africa, 2017-2019.PloS one · 2023Article
- Factors affecting the utilization of mental health services among undergraduate students in a Nigerian University.Heliyon · 2022Article
- Financial burden associated with attendance at a public hospital emergency department in Johannesburg.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundYoung people face many barriers to accessing appropriate health care services including screening for HIV and tuberculosis (TB). The study aimed to identify perceived barriers to the uptake of health services among young adults entering the tertiary education system in South Africa.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among first-year students aged 18-25 years, registered at one of three universities in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2017. Participants completed a self-administered paper-based questionnaire. We describe perceived barriers to accessing health services, stratified by gender and recent engagement in TB or HIV services, together with sources of information about HIV and TB.
resultsSeven hundred and ninety-two (792) students were included in the study of which 54.8% were female. Perceived barriers to accessing services included long waiting time (n = 342,43.2%), attitude of health workers (n = 263,33.2%), lack of sufficient information/poor health literacy (n = 148,18.7%), and inability to leave/stay away from studies (n = 137,17.3%). Among participants who tested for HIV in the past 6 months (n = 400, 50.5%), waiting time and attitude of health care workers were perceived as barriers to accessing services. Compared to males, females were more likely to view attitudes of health workers (40.3% vs. 25.0%; p = 0.001) and inability to leave/stay away from studies (20.5% vs.13.4%; p = 0.025) as potential barriers. While just over half of the students (50.5%; 400/792) in this study had accessed health services in the past 6 months, very few (15.0%) opted to use campus health services, and even less (5%) reported receiving information about HIV and TB from the university itself.
conclusionDespite perceived barriers to accessing HIV and TB services off campus, fewer than one in five students starting out at university opted to use campus health services. Campus health services could address many of the barriers unique to university students.
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Registered trials
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