A Qualitative Analysis of Women's Satisfaction with Primary Care from a Panel of Focus Groups in the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health

Abstract

Health issues unique to women and differences in healthcare experiences have recently gained attention as health plans and systems seek to extend and improve health promotion and disease prevention in the population. Successful efforts focused on enhancing quality of care will require information from the patient's perspective on how to improve such services to best support women's attempts to lead healthy and productive lives. The National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health program (CoE), sponsored by the Office on Women's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services, is based on an integrated model uniting research, training, healthcare, and community education and outreach. To examine women's concept and definitions of healthcare quality, 18 focus groups comprising 137 women were conducted nationwide on experiences and attributes of healthcare that women value in primary care. Following the focus groups, a woman-focused healthcare satisfaction instrument was developed for the purpose of assessing and improving healthcare delivery. We describe the qualitative results of the focus group study.

Healthcare Preferences Among Lesbians: A Focus Group Analysis

“…[30][31][32] The preferences and experiences of healthcare described by the participants were consistent with the documented preferences among women in general in that they experienced healthcare at the level of the model of care, the process of care, and the provider of care. Consistent with the findings reported by Anderson et al 22 of the National Study of Women, our findings suggest that women prefer healthcare that is integrated, patient centered, easy to access, confidential, and provided in a comfortable setting by a knowledgeable and attentive provider. Participants in our study experienced healthcare not only as women, however, but also as lesbians.…”

“…Results may also not generalize to heterosexual women (especially the lesbian-specific findings), although some of the priorities of women in our sample mirror those of general populations of women participating in parallel studies. 22,39 Results also may not be generalizable to elderly lesbians; the oldest participant in our study was 63 years old. Another limitation is that participants self-identified as lesbian; their responses may not represent the views of lesbians who would be uncomfortable disclosing their sexual orientation in any setting, even a confidential focus group.…”

“…22 We report the results of the study arm that enrolled lesbians. The focus groups were conducted in a private conference room in a major medical center by a single interviewer with expertise in qualitative research methods.…”

Patient Perceptions of the Quality of Health Services

“…We identified a limited number of studies (eleven to be exact) that were likely designed to determine patients' own definitions of quality care. They are typically small-scale, qualitative studies using patient interviews and focus groups (1,2,12,23,34,36,38,46,62,64,82). This methodological choice is understandable; using an inherently open-ended approach is entirely appropriate when we are in what Kaplan has called the "context of discovery" (41,74,75).…”

A Qualitative Study of Perspectives, Expectations and Needs of Education in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Copd)

“…To make correct and proportional education plan, healthcare professionals, need to understand the opinion, expectation, and need of COPD patients [14]. Several prior qualitative researchers tried to uncover opinions of patients to arrange health education and service [15][16][17][18][19][20], so there is no gap between patients need and healthcare professionals. This research aims to explore perceptions, expectations, and needs of COPD patients as a part of pharmaceutical services…”