Roadmap to the New Horizon: Linking Asians to Improved Health and Wellness: Barriers to and preferences for health service delivery

Background

Little is known about the health status of the rapidly growing Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population and even less is known about the health of specific Asian ethnic communities.

Objective

The Roadmap to the New Horizon: Linking Asians to Improved Health and Wellness study was conducted, in part, to identify preferences for and barriers to health service delivery among the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities in the Portland metropolitan region.

Methods

Using a community-based participatory research approach, we designed, implemented, and analyzed a self-administered survey of 310 Chinese, 228 Korean, and 189 Vietnamese community members. Findings forums were held to present results to community members who provided interpretation of results, recommendations for action, and evaluation of the study.

Results

Participants were more likely to be women (68.6%) and US citizens (64.7%). Mean age was 53.5 years, mean years in US was 17, and the mean years of education was 12.5 (3.3 completed in US). Approximately 22% of Chinese, 19% of Korean, and 24% of Vietnamese (24%) participants reported they needed medical care, but did not get any in the last year. The majority of respondents, regardless of ethnic group, prefer a health care provider who tells them what to do to get healthy.

Conclusions

Barriers to health services, as well as their preferences for service delivery exist for members of the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities, but variations were observed between groups. Study results will be used to improve delivery of health services to diverse API communities.