Providers’ Perspectives on Women’s Healthcare Disparities and Barriers

ABSTRACT

Women face persistent disparities in healthcare quality, access to care, and treatment rates and outcomes, with women from marginalized identities facing greater difficulties. Little is known about providers’ understanding of these disparities, despite the vital role they play. This qualitative study explored interdisciplinary providers’ (psychologists and primary care physicians) perceptions of healthcare disparities and challenges across marginalized groups of women (women of color, women with disabilities, and women from low SES, elderly, and LGBTQ backgrounds). Providers frequently focused on individual patient barriers over systemic and relational barriers. Narratives varied by provider type and when discussing different groups of women. Continued provider training and health equity approaches are needed to combat healthcare disparities for diverse women.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s health
• healthcare disparities
• interdisciplinary
• qualitative research

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank all research participants for their generous contributions of time and effort. The authors would also like to thank the following lab members and research assistants who contributed to this project: Brianna Driscoll, Kylie Steinhilber, and Natasha Ramanyake.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Suffolk University. Dr. Kaitz’s efforts were partially funded by a Graduate Student Research Award from the Society for Health Psychology, American Psychological Association Division 38. Dr. Kaitz’s efforts in writing this manuscript were partially supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations Advanced Fellowship Program in Health Services Research, the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR), VA Bedford Healthcare System, Bedford, MA.