Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 21, Issue 5, 2019, Pages 946-953

Factors Associated with Access to Maternal and Reproductive Health Care among Somali Refugee Women Resettled in Ohio, United States: A Cross-Sectional Survey (Article)

Banke-Thomas A. , Agbemenu K. , Johnson-Agbakwu C.*
  • a Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Phoenix, AZ, United States, Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
  • b School of Nursing, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States
  • c Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Phoenix, AZ, United States, Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Abstract

This study examined maternal and reproductive health (MRH) access of Somali refugees in the U.S. across four access dimensions (willingness to seek care, gaining entry to the health system, seeing a primary provider and seeing a specialist). We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 427 Somali refugee reproductive-age women in Franklin County, Ohio. Following descriptive statistics of demographics, we conducted multivariate analyses to test associations between demographics and the four access dimensions. Most Somali refugee women were married (68%), attained primary education (92%), employed (64%) and were circumcised (82%). Young (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.25–5.60), single (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.15–2.78), and minors upon arrival (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.44–3.90) were more willing to seek care. Lack of insurance, limited language fluency and being circumcised limited access to care across all dimensions. Barriers to access need to be systematically addressed. Deconstructing beliefs regarding health systems may improve access, especially among older Somali women. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

maternal health Somali Access reproductive health Refugee

Index Keywords

married person male education female major clinical study Reproductive Health maternal welfare Ohio refugee Somali (citizen) language insurance Article human adult human experiment
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85053545948&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-018-0824-4&partnerID=40&md5=fb4ad05c5f0717fc7907386d39e7200e
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-018-0824-4
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English