ABSTRACT

This paper explores the challenges faced by unhoused women in accessing general and reproductive health care services in Santa Cruz, CA. Semi-structured interviews with women experiencing houselessness were conducted in Santa Cruz, CA with a focus on their narrative experiences as patients. The overwhelming majority of participants expressed appreciation for clinics that provided support through longer hours, alternative therapies, and appointment reminders. Overall, the interviews indicated that women who had access to a social worker were much more likely to report improved access to satisfactory treatment. These findings suggest that there is not a tangible lack of healthcare services for unhoused women in the local community, but rather a burden of treatment navigation caused by a dearth of information on how to access care. The interviews suggest that this burden can be reduced with social work interventions and service centers that offer health navigation support. By adapting theories of the “burden of treatment,” we argue that additional attention must be paid to overcoming the “burden of treatment navigation.” For related reasons, we suggest that increasing the availability of social workers would concretely improve health outcomes for unhoused women.

摘要

本文探讨了加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯的无住房妇女在获得一般和生殖保健服务方面面临的挑战。在加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯对经历无家可归的女性进行了半结构化访谈，重点关注她们作为患者的叙述经历。绝大多数参与者对通过延长工作时间、替代疗法和预约提醒提供支持的诊所表示赞赏。总体而言，采访表明，能够接触到社会工作者的女性更有可能报告获得满意治疗的机会有所改善。这些研究结果表明，当地社区的无住所妇女并没有明显缺乏医疗保健服务，而是由于缺乏有关如何获得医疗服务的信息而造成的治疗导航负担。访谈表明，可以通过提供健康导航支持的社会工作干预和服务中心来减轻这种负担。通过调整“治疗负担”的理论，我们认为必须额外注意克服“治疗导航负担”。出于相关原因，我们建议增加社会工作者的可用性将具体改善无住房妇女的健康状况。