title: Permeability of public and private spaces in reproductive healthcare seeking: barriers to uptake of services among low income African American women in a smaller urban setting.
abstract: This study was undertaken in partnership with a publicly funded reproductive healthcare organization to better understand barriers to utilization of its services as perceived by low income African American women in its community and how those barriers might be managed. The study uses a place-based, ecological perspective to theorize privacy challenges across different levels of the communication ecology. Analysis of participant observation, interviews, and focus group data identified three key public-private problematics in African American women's experience of reproductive healthcare seeking in a smaller urban setting: a public-private problematic of organizational identity, of organizational regions, and of organizational members. Potential strategies are identified for managing these problematics by the organization and community members.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, SS339, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA. Electronic address: agolden@albany.edu.
authors.forename: Annis G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Golden
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D009518:New York; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D011203:Poverty; D018907:Privacy / Q000523:psychology; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D036301:Qualitative Research; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: African American women's health; Community healthcare organizations; Ecological perspective; Health disparities; Place; Privacy and health; Reproductive health; United States