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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Davida E. Becker, MSc, Amy Tsui, PhD, and Michael Koenig, PhD. Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, (410) 499-2267, dbecker@jhsph.edu

While there is a large body of evidence documenting racial and ethnic disparities in health care generally, very little research has been conducted on disparities in family planning and reproductive health services. Inequalities in these services are important because they may contribute to racial and ethnic differences in reproductive health. Using data collected in 1995 as part of the Alan Guttmacher Institute's Opening Doors study, these analyses will examine whether racial, ethnic or language-based differences exist in women's reports of family planning and reproductive health service quality. These data are comprised of a nationally representative sample of 1,852 low-income, African American, Latina and White women, aged 18 to 34, who were interviewed by telephone about their experiences with family planning, including their most recent experiences with family planning and reproductive health services. Four groups of women will be compared: African Americans, Whites, English-speaking Latinas and predominantly Spanish-speaking Latinas. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models will be used to analyze the association between race/ethnicity/primary language and various measures of women's perceptions of service quality. In addition, this study will also explore the determinants of quality ratings in the sample overall and in each racial, ethnic and language subgroup. Differences are expected in the determinants of quality ratings in each of subgroup. This research aims to provide insights into how family planning and reproductive health services might be made more acceptable to women of diverse racial, ethnic and language backgrounds.

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