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. 2022 Apr 8;19(8):4502.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084502.

Exploring Preventive Healthcare in a High-Risk Vulnerable Population

Trisha L Amboree  1   2 , Jane R Montealegre  3   4 , Kayo Fujimoto  5 , Osaro Mgbere  6   7 , Charles Darkoh  2   8 , Paige Padgett Wermuth  1
Affiliations

Exploring Preventive Healthcare in a High-Risk Vulnerable Population

Trisha L Amboree et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

This study describes preventive care behaviors and explores opportunities to deliver preventive sexual healthcare to a high-risk vulnerable population. Data from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system high-risk heterosexuals (HET) cycle (2019) in Houston, Texas, was used to describe preventive care utilization and assess the relationship between healthcare utilization and sociodemographic characteristics. More than 47% reported having no usual source of healthcare, and 94.6% reported receiving no non-HIV STI testing in the past 12 months. Additionally, many sociodemographic factors were associated with healthcare utilization and having a usual source of healthcare. Future efforts should be targeted at increasing preventive healthcare utilization among high-risk vulnerable populations as well as implementing more preventive sexual healthcare services in the community health centers where these populations most frequently encounter healthcare.

Keywords: preventive healthcare; preventive medicine; public health; sexual health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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