Satisfaction with and Perceived Cultural Competency of Healthcare Providers: Research Design

Research Design

The CAI was developed to assess the Omaha minority communities’ satisfaction with healthcare providers and their knowledge and willingness to participate in healthcare research. The CAI consisted of over 70 survey items that were pilot-tested on 12 members of the minority community before being administered to 80 members of the minority and majority community. The minority community included African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Sudanese and Vietnamese. The last two groups are recent immigrants to the Omaha area. The majority community were whites/Caucasians and were included as a reference group.

Data Collection

Key community organizations that had significant representation of a given minority group were contacted and asked to host a study session. Hosting required the use of their neighborhood facility, provision of refreshments and recruitment of 10 participants. In order to assure at >10 participants at each study session, we solicited confirmation from >12 potential participants. All participants who arrived at the designated site were included in the study. The only requirement for participation was that the participant had visited a healthcare provider in the Omaha community within the last 12 months preceding the session. Source your medication needs online. revatio online home delivered

If the study population’s first language was not English, the host organization was responsible for providing interpreters, except for the Hispanic and Vietnamese groups, whose interpreters were affiliated with Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC). The interpreters stood next to the study presenter and focus group facilitator and translated every sentence to ensure consistency among all the study groups. Bilingual staff affiliated with the host organization was also available to provide additional assistance to respondents. The Sudanese women and men’s groups created the most challenge. Interpreters were needed for the Nuer, Dinka and Arabic languages. In addition, many of the men and all of the women needed assistance in completing the questionnaire. Many of the Sudanese females had no formal education so the bilingual staff had to record their answers; as a consequence, these participants have similar answers.

At the beginning of each study session, respondents were given an overview regarding the purpose of the study and asked to sign a consent form. When all consent forms had been collected, the survey instrument was distributed. Respondents were given approximately 30 minutes to complete the form. However, the time period varied with the minority group’s English language proficiency. It took approximately 90 minutes for the Sudanese women’s group to complete the questionnaire. The Sudanese women’s group was the only group that exceeded the allotted time period. Each woman needed the assistance of an interpreter to translate the question, explain the possible answers and record the answers on the questionnaire. The Sudanese men’s group had 15 people attend, but only nine were part of the study. The six additional men assisted with translating and completing the questionnaire. When it was determined that only nine men completed the consent form, one of the interpreters agreed to be a participant to achieve our goal of 10. Only three of the Sudanese men who participated in this study did not need an interpreter. All respondents were asked to answer the questions to the best of their knowledge and ability and to hold their questions and comments until the focus group was conducted. After the questionnaire was collected from all respondents, a facilitator not affiliated with Creighton University, conducted the focus group. For the Vietnamese and Hispanic groups, the interpreter stood next to the facilitator. For the Sudanese group, the interpreters stood or sat next to his or her language group. The Sudanese and Caucasian focus groups were held at CUMC in the same room where the pilot studies were conducted in June 2003. In addition, the women’s Sudanese group was moved to another location because they exceeded the time scheduled for use of the room, and two of the Arabic-speaking males were relocated to the cafeteria to complete the questionnaire while the focus group discussion began.
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The Caucasian group presenter was a white female affiliated with CUMC. This is the only group where consistency of presentation was not maintained. The original female presenter, a local African American, resumed her doctoral studies out of state. Furthermore, the Caucasian group was added as a reference group for the study; they were not part of the original research design. We wanted to ascertain if whites had similar experiences with the Omaha medical community as minorities. The analysis of the focus group will be discussed in a separate paper. Respondents were paid $50 for travel expenses. The host organization was compensated $250 for its assistance. IRB approval was obtained for both the pilot study and this study.

Category: Health

Tags: community, cultural competency, health disparities, minority population, researchers, satisfaction, trust