Development and validation of the healthcare access barrier scale (HABS)
The HABS is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring perceived healthcare access barriers in urban populations, offering a more holistic, process-integrated assessment by capturing obstacles across the full continuum of care - before, during, and after healthcare visits. This unified scale can facilitate assessment of systematic barriers, comparisons across settings, and identification of target areas for intervention. Future use of the HABS may inform policies and programs aimed at improving access to health services and equity.
Authors
- Yusheng Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4695-127X)
- D. H. Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3382-0476)
- Wen Ling Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6839-8890)
- Min Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0788-8765)
- Jinsui Zhang
- Xiaoyu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4665-5024)
Institutions
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- National Health and Family Planning Commission (CN)
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (CN)
- University of Rochester Medical Center (US)
- Nanjing University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal for Equity in Health
- Published
- 2025-10-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02624-x
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Global Maternal and Child Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.49
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China