257505 Listening to Chinese immigrant restaurant workers in the Midwest: Application of the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) to explore perceptions of US healthcare system

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Haijuan Gao, MD , Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Titilayo A. Okoror, PhD , Department of Health and Kinesiology & African American Studies Research Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Mohan Dutta, PhD, BSc , Department of Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
This study used the cultured-centered approach to explore Chinese immigrant restaurant workers' perception of the US healthcare system and their interaction with it. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Chinese immigrant restaurant workers that lasted an average of 1.5 hours each, and audio-taped. Also, detailed field journal accounts of the interactions were taken. Participants were recruited using snow-ball technique through personal contacts of the investigators. All interviews were conducted in Chinese language (Mandarin). Transcripts were first translated into Mandarin and then into English. Data analysis was done using content analysis and co-constructivist approach. Interviews with participants highlighted critical issues in access to healthcare and resistance efforts they employed against the system. Critical to workers discourse is the acknowledgement of barriers due to lack of language proficiency, insurance coverage, immigration status, incomprehension of how the healthcare system works, and difference in care provided by US physicians versus Chinese doctors in China. Participants' agency and resistance is expressed through their ‘choice' not to pay for clinical services, visit to ‘free hospitals' in the big cities, and use of ‘western medicine' from China for self-treatment. These findings have implications for efforts to improve Chinese immigrant's health.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain Chinese immigrant restaurant workers interaction with the US healthcare system. 2. Identify barriers and challenges Chinese immigrant restaurant workers experience in US healthcare system. 3. Demonstrate Chinese immigrant restaurant workers’ resistance and agency in the context of their behavior and interaction with the healthcare system.

Keywords: Immigrants, Access to Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I collected and analysed the data for the abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.