[Interactive Health Literacy, Sociodemographic Characteristics and the Uptake of Psychotherapeutic or Pharmacological Interventions - are there Social Inequalities in the Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder?].

AIM: The aim is to investigate the association between sociodemographic characteristics and the interactive health literacy and the time to treatment of social anxiety disorder.

METHODS

An online survey of N = 311 patients was carried out (response rate 54.1 %). Descriptive statistical analysis and a logistic regression analysis were carried out.

RESULTS

The respondents are on average 46 years old (20-81), 59 % are women. Older age (OR 2,579), not living in partnership (OR 1,963), fear of personal contact (OR 5,716) and low (OR 3,585) or moderate (OR 3,144) interactive health literacy were significantly associated with the time to treatment.

CONCLUSION

The data suggest that social inequalities exist regarding the use of psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions in people with social anxiety disorder.