Abstract
The aim of this paper was to examine the relation between neighbourhood health care resources and the sense of security of residents. From May to July 2009 I conducted a postal survey for adults aged 20-69 living in Sendai. One thousand five hundred people were randomly chosen as subjects. Variables of neighbourhood health care resources were the distance to the nearest hospital, hospital beds, clinics per 1,000 population and dental clinics per 1,000 population. The relation between neighbourhood health care resources and the sense of security of residents was examined within a multilevel framework. The intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.255. The distance to the nearest hospital had a positive effect on the sense of security. On the other hand, clinics per 1,000 population was negatively related to the sense of security. Hospital beds and dental clinics did not have any significant effect on the sense of security. Controlled by individual characteristics and socio-economic status as covariates, the effect increased slightly. It is of potential importance for a health care system to take the perspective of the daily living area into account from the point of the sense of security of the inhabitants.
