This study addresses how Latino Medicaid consumers in Massachusetts construe and use health care services, as a part of the qualitative stage of the Mas Salud project, a research project funded by HCFA. Based on findings from a secondary data analysis of Massachusetts Medicaid records, the following dimensions were identified as relevant to investigate in this stage of the study: child and adolescence immunization and preventive care, prenatal care, adult preventive care and use of the emergency room, and cervical screening and mammography. Besides these public health dimensions, the Mas Salud team explored how health consumers construe satisfaction, define access to health care, and what they identify as barriers to satisfaction. The findings highlight the involvement of extended and nuclear families in their members’ health and the interface of subjective and objective barriers and enablers that foster preventive care. The authors will also expand on specific family and community stories that foster and/or inhibit health promotion campaigns, the impact of intergenerational beliefs in compliance with and access to medical care, and the perception of health providers and agencies as respectful of the patient as a person, among others. The study pays careful attention to the ways in which health care consumers and providers make assumptions about, and influence each other’s behaviors. For example, while Latino mothers report that they may need to exaggerate their children’s symptoms to obtain medical care, they also report that they are careful about not being perceived as neglectful by medical personnel.
Learning Objectives: 1. During this session, faculty will discuss the importance of family involvement and intergenerational beliefs in enhancing access and quality of health care for Latinos in Massachusetts. 2. During this session, faculty will explore the interface of subjective and obectie barriers and enablers that forter preventive and palliative care. 3. Faculty will analyze the assumptions and influence that Latino consumers and providers exert on each other as they enter a health care context
Keywords: Health Care Quality, Family Involvement
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.