Digitized Honors Theses (2002-2017)

Amy Traylor

Date of Award

5-2014

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BS

Department

Biomedical Sciences

Faculty Mentor

Allen Perkins

Abstract

This paper explored the healthcare received by people of Hispanic descent in Alabama. Health disparities exist between the quality of care received by this subset of the population and that received by Caucasians. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a new survey in studying this access to health care and the problems language barriers create. A survey derived from the California Health Interview Survey was administered to self-identifying Hispanic patients in Baldwin and DeKalb Counties in Alabama. Ten pilot responses were collected from an approximately sixty-day distribution at two different sites. The results of this study show that it is possible to translate a survey for cross-cultural use. Patient difficulty in answering the survey and the patient responses collected indicated that language barriers are one of the main problems to health-care utilization and access for Hispanics in Alabama. Survey response rates need to be improved before a real understanding of the issues facing this population may be understood.

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