Project HealthViews is a collaborative medical anthropological project on understandings, experiences, and perceptions of health and healthcare in a variety of contexts. The first phase of the project is Project HealthViews Colorado, a collaboration between Dr. Whitney Duncan, a psychological and medical anthropologist at the University of Northern Colorado; Salud Family Health Centers, and students in Dr. Duncan's medical anthropology class in Spring 2015. We are starting by conducting a survey at Salud clinics to help them better understand their patient population and improve the quality of their care as a patient-centered medical home.
The purpose of this project is fourfold:
(1) To investigate how various groups of Coloradans understand and make decisions about their health and medical treatment seeking.
(2) To investigate the role of culture, ethnicity, and socio-economic status in patients’ experience of and access to medical treatment.
(3) To help Salud Family Health Centers better understand their patient population, measure their performance as a “patient-centered medical home” (PCMH), and improve healthcare delivery.
(4) To train students to conduct mixed-methods research while also benefiting a community partner.
To explore these questions, Dr. Whitney Duncan (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern Colorado), students enrolled in her course “Medical Anthropology” (ANT355), and her research assistant(s) will be conducting structured questionnaires with two main populations: (1) patients at Salud Family Health Center, and (2) with members of the general population, including members of the University of Northern Colorado community. We seek to understand generally how a diverse group of Coloradans view their own health status and decisions about treatment-seeking; to what degree culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and insurance coverage play a role in access to treatment and satisfaction with treatment; and explore some of the variables that may contribute to positive and negative treatment experiences.
As an engaged scholarship project, HealthViews also has applied goals. The project was developed in partnership with Salud Family Health Centers to help their community clinics answer important questions about their patient populations. To maintain their designation as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), they must assess their patients’ experience of and satisfaction with their healthcare through qualitative and quantitative means. Salud will utilize the results of the study to improve healthcare delivery to their patient population, much of which is composed of vulnerable, low-income patients.
More generally, the project will help train undergraduates to conduct qualitative research and analyze data. Further, the project can contribute to healthcare policy-making and program development in Colorado. By understanding patients’ own perspectives on health and health-care seeking, we hope to contribute to the development and refinement of culturally competent, accessible health services in Colorado.
The purpose of this project is fourfold:
(1) To investigate how various groups of Coloradans understand and make decisions about their health and medical treatment seeking.
(2) To investigate the role of culture, ethnicity, and socio-economic status in patients’ experience of and access to medical treatment.
(3) To help Salud Family Health Centers better understand their patient population, measure their performance as a “patient-centered medical home” (PCMH), and improve healthcare delivery.
(4) To train students to conduct mixed-methods research while also benefiting a community partner.
To explore these questions, Dr. Whitney Duncan (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern Colorado), students enrolled in her course “Medical Anthropology” (ANT355), and her research assistant(s) will be conducting structured questionnaires with two main populations: (1) patients at Salud Family Health Center, and (2) with members of the general population, including members of the University of Northern Colorado community. We seek to understand generally how a diverse group of Coloradans view their own health status and decisions about treatment-seeking; to what degree culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and insurance coverage play a role in access to treatment and satisfaction with treatment; and explore some of the variables that may contribute to positive and negative treatment experiences.
As an engaged scholarship project, HealthViews also has applied goals. The project was developed in partnership with Salud Family Health Centers to help their community clinics answer important questions about their patient populations. To maintain their designation as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), they must assess their patients’ experience of and satisfaction with their healthcare through qualitative and quantitative means. Salud will utilize the results of the study to improve healthcare delivery to their patient population, much of which is composed of vulnerable, low-income patients.
More generally, the project will help train undergraduates to conduct qualitative research and analyze data. Further, the project can contribute to healthcare policy-making and program development in Colorado. By understanding patients’ own perspectives on health and health-care seeking, we hope to contribute to the development and refinement of culturally competent, accessible health services in Colorado.