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<article xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="1.0" article-type="family-medicine" lang="en">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">JOHS</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="nlm-ta">Journ of Health Scien</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Journal of HealthCare Sciences</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Journ of Health Scien</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">2231-2196</issn>
      <issn pub-type="opub">0975-5241</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Radiance Research Academy</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">482</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">http://dx.doi.org/10.52533/JOHS.2025.51222</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi-url"/>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Family Medicine</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Barriers to Follow-Up After Initial Primary Care Visits: A Cross-Sectional Study&#13;
</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Alshammari</surname>
            <given-names>Hamdan</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Alqahtani</surname>
            <given-names>Mohammed Saad</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Alaqeel</surname>
            <given-names>Suliman Abdullah</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Alharbi</surname>
            <given-names>Abdulhakim Farhan</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Alshalan</surname>
            <given-names>Saif Daham</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname/>
            <given-names/>
          </name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Abuabat</surname>
            <given-names>Ibrahim Saad</given-names>
          </name>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <pub-date pub-type="ppub">
        <day>29</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>5</volume>
      <issue>12</issue>
      <fpage>891</fpage>
      <lpage>902</lpage>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>This article is copyright of Popeye Publishing, 2009</copyright-statement>
        <copyright-year>2009</copyright-year>
        <license license-type="open-access" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
          <license-p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Licence. You may share and adapt the material, but must give appropriate credit to the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>Background: Barriers to effective follow-up appointments after an initial primary care visit include a complex mix of patient-related factors, socioeconomic constraints, and healthcare system and access issues. The goal of this study is to determine the prevalence of non-adherence to follow-up after initial primary care visits and to identify the barriers influencing follow-up attendance.&#13;
&#13;
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Hail Health Cluster primary care facility in Saudi Arabia in 2025 among adult patients who missed follow-up appointments within six months after their initial visit. Data was collected via the survey method. Patient barriers to follow-up were assessed across multiple domains: patients__ampersandsign#39; perceptions of health beliefs and understanding, the healthcare system and access barriers domain, and the communication factors domain. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0.&#13;
&#13;
Results: This study analyzed follow-up appointment adherence among 120 adult participants, revealing that 68.33% attended their scheduled appointments. The main reasons for non-attendance were forgetfulness (34.17%) and feeling better (37.50%). Employment status (p = 0.012), educational status (p = 0.009), and monthly income (p = 0.004) significantly impacted follow-up attendance. Those who attended had higher health belief scores (16 vs. 14; p=0.030), and participants citing long wait times had higher odds of missing appointments (OR = 3.27; p = 0.020). Participants with lower monthly family income (</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>primary care</kwd>
        <kwd> follow-up visits</kwd>
        <kwd> factors affecting adherence</kwd>
        <kwd> barriers</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>