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A "DisJOINTed" Relationship: Older African Americans' Osteoarthritis Pain Management Experiences with Healthcare
Staja Q Booker1, Keela A Herr2
1College of Nursing, Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Abstract:
Managing debilitating chronic pain due to osteoarthritis often presents significant challenges for historically marginalized populations such as African American older adults. This qualitative analysis examined older African Americans' (N = 18) encounters with healthcare providers when seeking chronic pain treatment for osteoarthritis. A conventional thematic analysis identified five major themes: (1) Seeking treatment is a nuanced balance of overcoming personal delays to receive professional help and decision support, (2) Experiencing mistreatment diminishes faith in providers and increases faith in a higher power, (3) Advocating for informed care is a necessary challenge, (4) Receiving limited treatment options results in disjointed care and culturally informed self-care, and (5) Experiencing "good" care is rare but appreciated. The quality of patient-provider relationships varied considerably and resulted in disjointed care. These results illuminate the 21st century experiences of navigating a complex and biased healthcare system and emphasize opportunities for providers to increase advocacy and empathy.
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