Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May;104(5):1049-1058.
doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.10.002. Epub 2020 Oct 6.

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

Serena Phillips  1 , Laura C Wyatt  2 , Monique M Turner  3 , Chau Trinh-Shevrin  2 , Simona C Kwon  4
Affiliations

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

Serena Phillips et al. Patient Educ Couns. 2021 May.

Abstract

Objectives: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

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

Practice implications: 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.

Keywords: Asian American; Communication; Cultural competence; Immigrant health; Limited English proficiency; New York City; Patient-provider.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest None.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Low comprehension of provider communication by detailed Asian American immigrant subgroup
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lopez G, Ruiz N, Patten E, Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population, 2017. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/08/key-facts-about-asian-a.... (Accessed June 24, 2019.
    1. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS demographic and housing estimates: 2013–2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2017.
    1. DiNapoli TP, The Asian Community in New York State, Report 9–2016, February 2016. https://www.osc.state.ny.us/sites/default/files/reports/documents/pdf/20....
    1. Yi SS, Kwon SC, Sacks R, Trinh-Shevrin C, Commentary: Persistence and Health-Related Consequences of the Model Minority Stereotype for Asian Americans, Ethn Dis 26(1) (2016) 133–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. King L, Deng WQ, Health Disparities among Asian New Yorkers, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, March 2018.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources