Identifying the Health Needs of Hispanic Women From a Church Community

Abstract

Objective To examine knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding access to health care services and health issues among an underserved community of Hispanic women in the Northeast United States. Design Cross‐sectional exploratory. Setting Primarily Hispanic church in the Northeast United States. Sample Hispanic women (N = 66). Methods A 94‐item Health Needs Assessment was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, chi‐square, and t tests were used to analyze the data. Results The most common health issue among this population was obesity/overweight. Thirty two percent of the women were not U.S. citizens. Satisfaction with care was significant among those with insurance, who were U.S. citizens, and who had a medical diagnosis. Thirty seven percent of the women used the emergency room as their usual source of care, 41% reported their health as fair to poor, and preventive service rates were less than what has been reported in the literature. Conclusion/Implications for Nursing Practice In the absence of adequate primary care, the uninsured go without care, utilize the emergency department as a primary care facility, and ultimately experience health disparities. Accurate assessments of present service use by the poor and underserved will allow for improved planning of services and the development of policy that will target the needs of invisible populations. In the United States, two of the most salient factors determining access to care are whether or not a person has health insurance and the person's race or ethnicity. Hispanics account for about one third of the uninsured in the United States. Health needs assessments are useful in understanding subpopulations within communities. Advanced practice nurses and nurses need to gain insight into issues that affect the women they care for, including access to and satisfaction with care, how preventive services are utilized, and specific health needs. Culturally appropriate interventions can then be designed and implemented for specific populations of women served. To examine knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding access to health care services and health issues among an underserved community of Hispanic women in the Northeast United States. Cross‐sectional exploratory. Primarily Hispanic church in the Northeast United States. Hispanic women (N = 66). A 94‐item Health Needs Assessment was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, chi‐square, and t tests were used to analyze the data. The most common health issue among this population was obesity/overweight. Thirty two percent of the women were not U.S. citizens. Satisfaction with care was significant among those with insurance, who were U.S. citizens, and who had a medical diagnosis. Thirty seven percent of the women used the emergency room as their usual source of care, 41% reported their health as fair to poor, and preventive service rates were less than what has been reported in the literature. In the absence of adequate primary care, the uninsured go without care, utilize the emergency department as a primary care facility, and ultimately experience health disparities. Accurate assessments of present service use by the poor and underserved will allow for improved planning of services and the development of policy that will target the needs of invisible populations. In the United States, two of the most salient factors determining access to care are whether or not a person has health insurance and the person's race or ethnicity. Hispanics account for about one third of the uninsured in the United States.