Classifying the population by socioeconomic factors associated with support for policies to reduce social inequalities in health

Abstract

Background: To examine citizens' agreement with policy options to reduce social inequalities in health and socio-demographic factors associated with support for these policies. Methods: A random digit dialling sample of 16 125 households with access to a landline telephone was conducted in Saskatoon, Canada in 2013. Saskatoon is located in the Canadian prairies and had a population of 222 189 in 2011. A total of 1002 individuals aged 18 or older answered a questionnaire indicating their support for policies to improve health equity. Socio-demographic variables of interest were household income, education, occupation and ethnicity. Latent class analysis and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: The latent class analysis showed that 37% of respondents were in the selective agreement group, while 63% were in the high agreement group. The selective agreement group showed lower policy support compared with the high agreement group, in particular for guaranteed annual income, welfare for adults and parents with children, lower tuition for post-secondary students. In the final logistic regression model, socioeconomic factors associated with the likelihood of being in the selective agreement group were: age 40 years, male, Caucasian ethnicity and higher household income. Conclusions: Residents support for policies to reduce poverty and increase funding for education, creation of health promotion and disease prevention programmes. However, support for these policies is different across social groups.