Organizational partnership in a community assessment project: Using focus groups to identify community health needs and barriers in access to care in a low-income clinic's service area

Research Description: The Venice Family Clinic (VFC) partnered with a research organization (RAND) and another organization (Behavioral Health Services, Inc.) for a community assessment project to gain low-income residents' perspectives on health care needs and resources that could be mobilized to meet them. Study Design/Methods: We conducted 7 focus groups with low-income adults in the clinic's service areas (West Los Angeles, Inglewood). We used convenience sampling to identify potential participants and screened them by phone using eligibility criteria (income, neighborhood, race and when possible, no previous experience with the clinic). We used an open-ended focus group guide with questions on participants' communities, religion and spirituality, health needs, and access to care. Preliminary Findings: A total of 58 people participated (33% Latino and 46% African-American). Salient health needs included drug and gang violence prevention and better diabetes and hypertension management in communities of Latino and African-American participants. Some participants felt that, despite receiving high-quality care at VFC, much improvement was needed regarding long wait times. Additionally, non-Latino patients expressed feelings of discrimination by Latino clinic staff. Conclusions/Implications: Focus groups were an effective way to elicit community health needs, barriers in access to care, and perspectives of VFC, particularly because a clinic representative attended, but did not facilitate, the groups. This approach could be incorporated into quality improvement efforts particularly in neighborhoods of mixed Latino and African American ethnicity. To address the matters raised, well-developed systems of feedback are needed for clinic patients so that complaints can be voiced and managed effectively.