How satisfied are older African Americans with the health care they receive?

Background: Preliminary studies have revealed an association with cultural competence and increased client satisfaction. Client satisfaction has been used by researchers to help identify and develop strategies to improve the delivery of care. Satisfaction is often associated with patient behaviors, including increased health services utilization and compliance with a medical regimen. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cultural competence, measured by racial/ethnic concordance and interpersonal sensitivity of providers, and comprehension of health information on overall satisfaction with care received among African Americans/Blacks. Methods: The respondents were 330 African Americans/Blacks ages 50 and older that responded to a national telephone survey. The direct and interactive roles of the predictive variables were examined in order to explore between-group differences and within-group variability. Results: The results from this study indicate that the perceived interpersonal sensitivity of the provider, as a measure of cultural competence, is a significant predictor of higher satisfaction with care received. The results also suggest that client-provider racial/ethnic concordance may not be an effective cultural competence technique for African Americans/Blacks, contrary to some of the findings from previous studies about racial/ethnic concordance.