The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #51134

Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, Graduate College of Education, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Bvld, Boston, MA 02125 and Carole Upshur, EdD, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave. North, Worcester, MA 01655, 508-334-7267, gonzalo.bacigalupe@umb.edu.

Latinos make up more than 6% of the population and are the largest minority group in Massachusetts. Publicly-funded medical care system and free care access is generous in the state, Latinos, however, have persistent health disparities. Continuing disparities in the face of relatively high insurance and access to care leads us to believe that access to insurance alone does not address access to quality care, which may be compromised by cultural, language or other barriers. The study reports results of focus groups and individual interviews conducted among Latino Medicaid consumers in Massachusetts who migrated/immigrated from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central America. The groups focused on decisions to seek care, preferred places to seek care, the discordance that occurred between consumer preferences and health system requirements, and the role that family and community based organizations play in challenging barriers to access. Through qualitative data analysis supported by computer assisted qualitative data analysis software, we developed several models to map the interactive impact of community-based organizations and kinship support, insurance access, and satisfaction. The findings that these models outline further a culturally competent research program. An overall high satisfaction with health services seems to be partly influenced by both previous experiences with lack of health services and with current access to health insurance. The study analyzes how community-based-organizations work synergistically with families as key intermediaries connecting Latinos and Latinas with health care and other services enhancing parents’ capacity and efforts to provide social, health, and financial support for their children.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn about what insured Latinos perceive are barriers to access and the ways they cope with them.
• Participants will explore how qualitative data analysis and qualitative data analysis software can provide innovative ways of thinking about health care barriers and the ways kinship and community based organizations influence health care access.
• Participants will reflect on the research and policy implications of carrying out research with a multiple and diverse groups of Latinos who still constitute a minority of the state population.

Keywords: Research Agenda, Latino Health

Related Web page: omega.cc.umb.edu/!massalud

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.