Family views on health resources and services in the intermountain west: a qualitative study

The aims of this study were to (1) Examine how families access health information; (2) Explore community perceptions of the role, purpose, and expectations of health agencies; and (3) Assess the perceptions of how well local public and private agencies make services accessible to diverse families.

We evaluated families' perceptions of public health programs and services through 25 semi-structured interviews that were conducted in October 2022. Inductive thematic coding was used to analyze the interviews.

We identified the following themes: Objective 1- Families wanted more personalized sources of information, less fragmentation of information, and increased promotion of health information in family friendly spaces (e.g. libraries, schools, and churches); Objective 2- families were unsure of the different roles and responsibilities of the health department and nonprofits; Objective 3- participants felt that both sectors could increase their awareness of different family structures as well as cultural values of minorities by increasing staff cultural competency and creating culturally sensitive environments.

This study emphasizes the importance of tailoring health information to families, promoting in family friendly spaces, alleviating the impact of fragmented information, improving resource accessibility, and developing culturally sensitive environments for all families to feel seen.