Patient-provider communication patterns among Asian American immigrant subgroups in New York City

Patient-provider communication is essential for patient-centered care, yet Asian American immigrant populations face barriers. We aim to describe: 1) patient-reported communication-related characteristics for 16 disaggregated Asian American subgroups; and 2) the association of patient comprehension of provider communication with socio-demographics, language proficiency and concordance, and perceived cultural sensitivity in this population.

Descriptive statistics are presented for 1269 Asian American immigrants responding to cross-sectional, venue-sampled surveys conducted in New York City. Logistic regression models examine predictors of low comprehension of provider communication.

Approximately 11% of respondents reported low comprehension of provider communication: lowest among South Asians and highest among Southeast Asians. Eighty-four percent were language-concordant with their provider, 90.1% agreed that their provider understood their background and values, and 16.5% felt their provider looked down on them. Low comprehension of provider communication was significantly associated with Southeast Asian subgroup, less education, limited English proficiency, public health insurance, patient-provider language discordance, and perceived low cultural understanding.

Among our sample, language and cultural sensitivity are associated with comprehension of provider communication.

Strategies improving language access and cultural sensitivity may be important for Asian immigrant patients. These could include interpretation services, bilingual community-based providers, and cultural sensitivity training.