Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Nursing
Committee Chair
Ann L. Bianchi
Committee Member
Leigh Ann Bray Dayton
Committee Member
Barbara Hatcher
Committee Member
Paige Turner Johnson
Committee Member
Shikha S. Modi
Research Advisor
Ann L. Bianchi
Subject(s)
Health services accessibility--Washington (D.C.), Discrimination in medical care, African America children--Medical care--Social aspects--Washington (D.C.), African American parents--Washington (D.C.)
Abstract
In the United States, healthcare access disparities have existed for several years in the African American/Black pediatric population. The District of Columbia ranks first nationally for health insurance coverage; however, African American/Black children have disproportionately experienced barriers to care compared to the District of Columbia’s pediatric population overall. There are current gaps in research that investigate African American/Black pediatric healthcare access from a parental perspective. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenology qualitative study was to explore research gaps by investigating barriers and facilitators to care, and the social determinants of health that impact pediatric healthcare access through the lens of the African American/Black parental lived experiences in the District of Columbia. Overall, participants shared more barriers than facilitators to healthcare access and reported social factors that impacted their children’s healthcare access. Barriers included insurance coverage, transportation, school schedule, wait time, feelings about care, finding a provider, communication, and missed appointments. Facilitators included reminders, financial stability, importance, and navigation. To address barriers to healthcare access and negative social determinants of health, changes to clinical practice guidelines and policy can inform care delivery changes to improve healthcare delivery to improve the quality of healthcare access for this population.
Recommended Citation
Celestand, Jessica A., "Understanding pediatric healthcare access from a Black parental perspective : a qualitative study" (2025). Dissertations. 468.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-dissertations/468
Comments
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the joint Nursing Science Program ...