Jennifer Needle, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Minnesota
Shannon Pergament, MPH MSW
Founding Member of SoLaHmo and
Community-Based Research Facilitator, Community University Health Care Center
University of Minnesota
Abstract: More than 20% of children in the United States live with a chronic and serious illness. Parents who care for these children are challenged by their children’s intense medical needs, navigating a complex health system, and significant time demands. For parents from ethnically diverse communities, such as Somali, Hmong, and Latin American communities, these challenges may be compounded by numerous social and structural determinants of health including language barriers, economic insecurity, and structural racism. Recent work by the presenters and research colleagues found that common contributors to miscommunication and mistrust were lack of access to quality professional interpreters and experiences of racism in the healthcare setting. The use of a community-based participatory action approach allowed them to explore the drivers of mistrust and offer community-centered recommendations to improve the outcomes and patient experience among ethnically diverse families of children with serious illness.
Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics
Location and Address
Online