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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Matthew Kehn, BA and Pei-Shu Ho, PhD. National Rehabilitation Hospital, 102 Irving Street, NW, Washington, DC 20024, 202-877-1603, matthew.e.kehn@medstar.net

Objective: To understand barriers to needed health care and social services among low income adults with physical disabilities.

Methods: Using a cross sectional study design, we conducted a citywide survey with low income working age adults with physical disabilities (n=258) who lived in a shelter, nursing home, or inaccessible home in Washington DC. Participants completed a semi-structured face-to-face interview that asked about their housing environment, health status, medical and housing needs, experiences with health services as well as barriers encountered towards health related needs. Results were analyzed using descriptive and comparative analyses.

Results: The majority of participants were African Americans (93%), single (44%), and high school graduates (41%) with about one-fourth reporting paralysis as their primary disability. While over 30% of participants indicated using a cane for getting around, the majority of nursing home participants were wheelchair users. In varying degrees, participants in the three low income housing conditions identified three shared barriers towards basic health care and social services: (1) environmental barriers, such as inaccessible housing features, transportation obstacles and poor neighborhood conditions (2) personal barriers, such as lack of knowledge about available services, financial obstacles and personal motivation, and (3) system barriers, such as lack of coordinated or integrated health and social services.

Conclusions: Low income working age adults with physical disabilities often face a variety of environmental, personal and system related barriers that have prevented them from accessing needed health care and social services. Such barriers often lead to delayed care and adverse health care outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. To identify the health care needs among low income adults with physical disabilities.
• 2. To identify the common barriers of accessing health care and social services among low income adults with physical disabilities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation