Information and access to health care: is there a role for trust?

Trust assumes a key position within this transactional process of information exchange or communicative interaction. Information may enlarge individual choice sets and increase the freedom to use health care; it serves as a stimulus for access. The paper argues that trust plays a role in the utilisation of provided information. Trust emerges as a prerequisite of the effectiveness of information with regard to access. A discussion of the origins of trust shows that, while trust enhances communicative interaction, it is the process of communicative interaction that generates trust in the first place. Culturally diverse societies are often low-trust environments. The paper analyses the driving forces of trust and distrust in health care within these societies and delineates barriers for the individual and the community to the transfer of information. Specific characteristics of health communication turn out to be key determinants of access. In conclusion, principles for health policy on equity and information are derived which are rooted in a distinctive notion of democratic societal structure.