Design: Qualitative study with 3 focus groups of women: 20-30 years, 37-46 years, 60 years and older.

Population: Convenience sample of women in the US 9 months to 8 years was solicited from 2 Russian-speaking churches.

Concept: Women's experiences with health care providers since they have been in the uS.

Methods: A focus group guide was used to collect data. All sessions were in Russian, tape recorded, transcribed into English, and searched for major themes and pattersn.

Findings: Major themes found were access, cost, continuity of care, cultural congruency, health beliefs, provider gender, locus of control, and trust/professionalism. All 3 groups indicated they did not practice Self Breast Exam and older women stated they did not get routine pap smears or mammograms because they were never told they needed them (locus of control). Their use of massage, teas, and herbal remedies prior to seeking health care made it difficult for them to understand why these practices were not valued in the US (health beliefs). Immigrant women had difficulty understanding the heavy reliance on technology to diagnose rather than on touching their bodies as their physicians in the FSU did (culturally congruent care).

Conclusions: This study supports the growing body of knowledge indicating that immigrants' access health care services based on patterns of utilization in their countries of origin and that the value each culture places on health and wellness emigrates with them.

Implications: Nursing implications include the need for providing nursing care based on cultural patterns of health care utilization across immigrant groups, and the need for nurses' active involvement in development of health care policies that improve access to health care services for immigrant populations.

Back to Women's Health
Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004