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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Farr A. Curlin, MD1, Matt Baker2, Sarah Carricaburu, BA3, Karen D. Serrano, MA4, Leslie Gee4, Douglas Smucker, MD, MPH5, and Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH6. (1) Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of Chicago, University of Chicago Hospitals, 5841 S. Maryland, MC 2007, Chicago, IL 60637, 773-834-9178, fcurlin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu, (2) Physician Assistant Program, Midwestern University College of Health Sciences, 555 31st Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, (3) Northwestern University Medical School, 555 Arlington Place #507, Chicago, IL 50514, (4) University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, 5463 S. Cornell Ave. #1E, Chicago, IL 60615, (5) Department of Family Medicine, University of Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 670582, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0582, (6) Medicine, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., MC2007, Chicago, MA 60637
BACKGROUND: The recruitment and retention of health care providers in underserved communities is problematic. Prior literature has identified the importance of intrinsic rewards in explaining many providers’ decisions to work in underserved settings. Importantly, the role of religious motivations among providers in underserved settings has been little described. OBJECTIVE: Explore the self-reported motivations of providers in explicitly faith-based safety-net health centers. DESIGN: Qualitative analysis of prospectively gathered face-to-face interviews. SETTING: Two federally funded faith-based urban community health centers. PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen primary care providers. MEASUREMENTS: Semi structured interviews probed the providers’ perceptions of their motivations to work in their current setting and the costs of doing so. Three raters coded transcripts of the audio taped interviews. MAIN RESULTS: Providers consistently identified intrinsic rewards as the principal motivating factors in their decisions to begin and to continue work at the health centers, and the most prevalent and most emphasized dimensions were religious. Among them were: a sense of God’s calling, colleagues who share a faith-informed vision for care to the underserved, and the associated freedom to express their religious identity and to address spiritual issues with patients. The providers were very consistent in their identification of core areas that make their work difficult and frustrating, centered around the constant stress of trying to meet overwhelming demands with inadequate resources. CONCLUSION: Providers in these faith-based health centers self-report predominantly religious motivations for their work. Further exploration of the role of religious motivations in providers’ decisions to work in underserved settings is warranted.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Faith Community, Safety Net Providers
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.