Demand For Health Services Or Professionals Among Adolescents: A Multilevel Study

This study aimed to analyze the demand for health services or professionals by adolescents with individual determinants and contextual variables (school teaching modality and Social Vulnerability Index). Data were collected from March to June 2018, in state public schools in Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, through a structured questionnaire with questions from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the National School Health Survey (PeNSE). Among the 2,454 adolescents, the proportion of those looking for a health service was higher among women; in adolescents whose mothers had a minimum of nine schooling years; in the physically active; and whose parents did not receive a family aid (Bolsa Familia). We observed that the contextual variables did not influence the demand for health services among adolescents. In the third model of the multilevel analysis, which analyzed the individual variables, we observed that only females (OR=1,80), having a mother with schooling greater than or equal to 9 years of study (OR=1,30), not receiving Bolsa Familia (OR=1,23), and physically active (OR=1,32) were associated with an increased demand for health services or professionals.