Barriers in Health Care in Hmong Men and Women with Cardiac Diseases

Lauver’s theory of care seeking behaviors is applied to identify perceived barriers to accessing healthcare in Hmong men and women that may influence care seeking behaviors. The purpose of this study is to identify barriers in accessing health care among Hmong men and women ages 50 to 80 with cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) and risk factors for CHD (e.g., diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension). A quantitative descriptive analysis was used to look at demographic characteristics while a multiple regression analysis was used to statistically compare correlations between barriers to care, risk factors for CHD, sex, and access to health care. The frequency of a participant’s access to healthcare (annually) could not be predicted by sex or barriers to healthcare. However, there was statistical significance between risk factors for CHD by barriers to healthcare and sex. The top two barriers identified in both men and women were the use of complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies as primary treatment and fear of invasive procedures. The results of this study will be available for continued research efforts to develop an evidence-based practice model that minimizes barriers to health care access and improve the management of cardiac disease in the Hmong community. Further studies assessing the barriers to accessing health care in the Hmong population at the provider and systemic levels are also needed to have a better understanding of both patient and provider experience