The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47739

Hieu M. Ngo, MPH¹, Claire Brindis, DrPH², M. Antonia Biggs, PhD², Katrine Lofberg², and John Mikanda, MD, MPH³. (1) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143-0936, 415-476-8622, hngo@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94143-0936, (3) Office of Family Planning, California Department of Health Services, 714 P Street, Room 440, Sacramento, CA 95814

While access to family planning services has substantially increased in the past decade due to an expansion in state funded providers, many low-income women and men are still not utilizing these services. In an effort to increase access to reproductive health, we conducted 27 focus groups and surveyed 202 focus group participants to identify barriers to care among California's particularly "hard-to-reach" populations. Data were collected from low-income women and men eligible for but not using publicly funded family planning services, in 10 California counties. Participants were between 17-49 years of age, and of diverse ethnicities (e.g. African American, Chinese, Hmong, Latino, Native American, Non-Latino white, and Vietnamese). Survey results indicated that the primary reasons for not seeking health services included cost (37%), lack of time (27%), not wanting to be seen by a male clinician (26%), lack of transportation (25%) and lack of health problems (25%). Focus group discussions revealed similar and additional deterrents including cost, confidentiality issues, reproductive health service provider attitudes, lack of information about existing services, lack of services, transportation problems, long waiting times and language barriers. To increase service utilization, participants felt that these barriers needed to be reduced, that provider networks and service delivery options needed to be expanded, and positive patient-doctor interactions ensured. Focus group participants also suggested that the best ways to increase awareness about publicly funded family planning programs and their services included advertising and education through the media, mailings, community events, and other community outreach strategies.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Describe the barriers that prevent low-income women and men from accessing publicly funding reproductive health services.
• 2. Identify the ways to reduce these barriers to reproductive health services for particularly "hard-to-reach" populations.
• 3. Identify the best strategies to reach particularly "hard-to-reach" populations.

Keywords: Barriers to Care, Low-Income

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.