Community Health Asset Mapping Partnership Engages Hispanic/Latino Health Seekers and Providers

Abstract

background The Hispanic/Latino population in Forsyth County, North Carolina, is growing quickly and experiencing significant disparities in access to care and health outcomes. Assessing community perceptions and utilization of health care resources in order to improve health equity among Hispanics/Latinos at both the county and state levels is critical. methods Our community engagement process was guided by the Community Health Assets Mapping Partnerships (CHAMP) approach, which helps identify gaps in health care availability and areas for immediate action to improve access to and quality of health care. Specifically, we invited and encouraged the Hispanic/Latino population to participate in 4 different workshops conducted in Spanish or English. Participants were identified as either health care providers, defined as anyone who provides health care or a related service, or health care seekers, defined as anyone who utilizes such services. results The most commonly cited challenges to access to care were cost of health care, documentation status, lack of public transportation, racism, lack of care, lack of respect, and education/language. These data were utilized to drive continued engagement with the Hispanic community, and action steps were outlined. limitations While participation in the workshops was acceptable, greater representation of health care seekers and community providers is needed. conclusions This process is fundamental to multilevel initiatives under way to develop trust and improve relationships between the Hispanic/Latino community and local health care entities in Forsyth County. Follow-through on recommended action steps will continue to further identify disparities, close gaps in care, and potentially impact local and state policies with regard to improving the health status of the Hispanic/Latino community.

Facilitators and barriers to research participation: perspectives of Latinos with type 2 diabetes

“…12 Several factors including distrust, lack of healthcare coverage, lack of childcare, language barriers, work schedules, legal status, cultural differences, religion and family have contributed to the underrepresentation of Latinos in research studies. [13][14][15] Investigators recruiting Latino research participants mitigate some of these factors with bilingual staff, free onsite childcare, in-home interventions or integration of ethnic foods, but there remains a gap of relevant strategies for a heterogeneous Latino culture. 16,17 However, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the participation of Latinos in studies to enhance clinical outcomes, self-management and psychosocial wellbeing in Spanish-speaking Latinos with T2DM, and little is known about the effectiveness of different recruitment strategies on representation in research among this subgroup of individuals.…”

“…Several factors including distrust, lack of healthcare coverage, lack of childcare, language barriers, work schedules, legal status, cultural differences, religion and family have contributed to the underrepresentation of Latinos in research studies. 13–15 Investigators recruiting Latino research participants mitigate some of these factors with bilingual staff, free onsite childcare, in-home interventions or integration of ethnic foods, but there remains a gap of relevant strategies for a heterogeneous Latino culture. 16,17…”

Validity of Cognitive Assessment Tools for Older Adult Hispanics: A Systematic Review

“…One challenge is that many H/Ls have a low socioeconomic status that comes with a lower use of healthcare services . Barriers for medical care use include lack of transportation and disablement but also language barriers and cultural uncertainties about the appropriateness of care . Further, the understanding of clinical diagnostic criteria can differ depending on the cultural context in the interchange between healthcare providers, patients, and translators.…”

Asset Mapping as a Tool for Identifying Resources in Community Health: A Methodological Overview

“…A methodological concept can be better understood when examples of it being applied in different contexts (Cutts et al, 2016;South et al, 2017) are shown. For this reason, this section provides a quick overview of three different areas where asset maps have proven www.jBiomedAnalytics.org useful: health research, community engagement, and community partnerships.…”