Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA.
Ethn Dis. 2018 Sep 6;28(Suppl 2):475-484. doi: 10.18865/ed.28.S2.475. eCollection 2018.
Little has been written about engaging potentially eligible members of a health care system who are not accessing the care to which they are entitled. Knowing more about the experiences of African American Veterans who regularly experience health care access challenges may be an important step toward equitable, coordinated Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care. This article explores the experiences of African American Veterans who are at risk of experiencing poor care coordination.
We partnered with a community organization to recruit and engage Veterans in three exploratory engagement workshops between October 2015 and February 2016.
Veterans living in South Los Angeles, California.
Veterans were asked to describe their experiences with community care and the VHA, a division of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Field notes taken during the workshops were analyzed by community and academic partners using grounded theory methodology to identify emergent themes.
12 Veterans and 3 family members of Veterans participated in one or more engagement workshops. Their trust in the VA was generally low. Positive themes included: Veterans have knowledge to share and want to help other Veterans; and connecting to VA services can result in positive experiences. Negative themes included: functional barriers to accessing VA health care services; insensitive VA health care environment; lack of trust in the VA health care system; and Veteran status as disadvantageous for accessing non-VA community services.
Veterans living in underserved areas who have had difficulty accessing VA care have unique perspectives on VA services. Partnering with trusted local community organizations to engage Veterans in their home communities is a promising strategy to inform efforts to improve care access and coordination for vulnerable Veterans.
对于没有获得应享医疗服务的医疗保健系统中可能符合条件的成员，人们对此知之甚少。了解经常面临医疗服务获取挑战的非裔美国退伍军人的经历，可能是实现公平、协调的退伍军人健康管理局（VHA）护理的重要一步。本文探讨了面临较差护理协调风险的非裔美国退伍军人的经历。
我们与一个社区组织合作，于 2015 年 10 月至 2016 年 2 月期间招募并让退伍军人参加了三次探索性参与研讨会。
居住在加利福尼亚州洛杉矶南部的退伍军人。
退伍军人被要求描述他们在社区护理和美国退伍军人事务部（VA）VHA 的经历，VHA 是 VA 的一个部门。社区和学术合作伙伴在研讨会上记录了现场笔记，然后使用扎根理论方法进行分析，以确定出现的主题。
12 名退伍军人和 3 名退伍军人的家属参加了一次或多次参与研讨会。他们对 VA 的信任普遍较低。积极主题包括：退伍军人有知识分享的意愿，并希望帮助其他退伍军人；与 VA 服务建立联系可能会带来积极的体验。消极主题包括：获取 VA 医疗保健服务的功能障碍；VA 医疗保健环境麻木不仁；对 VA 医疗保健系统缺乏信任；以及退伍军人身份不利于获取非 VA 社区服务。
居住在服务不足地区且难以获得 VA 护理的退伍军人对 VA 服务有独特的看法。与值得信赖的当地社区组织合作，让退伍军人在自己的社区参与，是一个很有前途的策略，可以为改善弱势退伍军人的护理获取和协调工作提供信息。
