Perspectives on Urban Health Care: Patients with Chronic Medical or Mental Health Conditions
Fifteen individuals with chronic medical or mental health conditions from an urban community were interviewed about the history of their conditions, diagnoses, treatment, self-management, and health information seeking. Themes present in patient narratives included: multiple health problems within families affected care-seeking and self-management; patients had great appreciation for local providers but noted specific problems; individuals experienced difficulty navigating the health care system; patients expressed strong trust in providers to supply health condition information but informal networks were important too. Findings indicate the critical role primary, specialty, and mental health service providers play in creating positive health care experiences for and offering information to their urban practice patients. Provider efforts can be enhanced, however, by better coordination with other health and social service providers in communities. Collecting personal narratives is an effective method of identifying health needs within a community and obstacles patients face in seeking care or doing self-care.