title: Beyond co-pays and out-of-pocket costs: perceptions of health-related financial burden in managing asthma among African American women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to define perceptions of health-related financial burden based on the views of individuals who report these perceptions through qualitative approaches.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four focus groups were conducted in Southeast Michigan with 26 African American women with asthma, recruited based on maximum variation sampling procedures. A semi-structured interview was employed by facilitators. Coded transcripts were analyzed for themes regarding dimensions of the meaning of financial burden.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Major domains of financial burden identified included (1) high out-of-pocket expenses; (2) lost wages from exacerbations, inability to maintain a stable job and stress from making decisions about taking a sick day or coming to work; (3) transport costs; (4) both costs and stress of managing insurance eligibility and correcting erroneous bills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Greater awareness of factors that add to perceptions of financial burden might better equip researchers to develop interventions to help care teams manage such concerns with their patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health , Ann Arbor, MI , USA and.
authors.forename: Minal R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Belinda W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Effat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Id-Deen
authors.forename: Cleopatra H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Caldwell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics; D008824:Michigan; D010465:Perception
keywords: Asthma; health insurance; illness and disease experiences; risk factors