NCT03550404

Improving Native American Elder Access to and Use of Healthcare

Improving Native American Elder Access to and Use of Healthcare Through Effective Health System Navigation

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 16 (actual)
• Sponsor: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This community-driven study features a mixed-method, participatory design to examine help-seeking behavior and healthcare experiences of American Indian elders in New Mexico, in order to develop and evaluate a tailored intervention to enhance knowledge of, access to, and use of insurance and available services to reduce healthcare disparities. This study includes qualitative and quantitative interviews combined with concept mapping and focus groups with American Indian elders and other key stakeholders.

Detailed description

This five-year project was developed by investigators from the Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest (BHRCS), a center of the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation (PIRE), the Health Committee of the New Mexico Indian Council on Aging (NMICoA), and the University of New Mexico (UNM). The project combines qualitative and quantitative interviews with concept-mapping (CM) techniques and focus groups to study insurance coverage, help-seeking behavior, and the healthcare experiences of American Indian Elders (AIEs) in New Mexico (NM). Practical knowledge grounded in the actual perspectives of AIEs and other key stakeholders may improve healthcare practices and policies for a population largely excluded from national and state discussions of health reform. The study data will also inform the adaptation and development of culturally tailored programming to enrich understanding and facilitate negotiation of a changing landscape of healthcare by AIEs. Our four specific aims are to: 1. Assess how AIEs understand, access, maintain, and use insurance coverage. 2. Characterize AIE help-seeking and healthcare experiences in dominant service delivery settings, i.e., Indian Health Service (IHS), tribally-run 638 facilities, and managed care programs. 3. Identify and compare factors that affect AIE access to health care as perceived by multiple stakeholders, i.e., AIEs, outreach workers (OWs), healthcare staff and providers, public sector administrators, and tribal leaders. 4. Develop and assess implementation feasibility of a structured intervention for OWs that promotes enhanced patient navigation, in addition to healthcare literacy, access, and usage among AIEs.

Conditions

• Access to Health Care

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Seasons of Care App	A web-based mobile application (app) called the Seasons of Care Elder Navigation Guide will assist elders, their families/caregivers, healthcare providers, outreach workers, and other community members in navigating healthcare and insurance systems. The app has the added advantage of being easy to update to respond to future changes in health care and insurance, and sustainable because it is not dependent on intensive training, developing, and retaining of individuals in professional navigation positions.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-08-01
• Primary completion: 2021-11-30
• Completion: 2022-06-30
• First posted: 2018-06-08
• Last updated: 2024-07-10
• Results posted: 2024-07-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States