title: Challenges confronting African Americans and Hispanics living with chronic illness in their families.
abstract: To examine the life experiences of African American and Hispanic adults whose personal chronic illness and/or that of a family member is the biggest health problem for their families.
  
  
  
  Telephone (landline and cell phone) interviews of random, nationally representative samples of 1081 African-American and 1478 Hispanic adults, age 18 and older. We evaluated the responses of 757 African-American and 697 Hispanic participants who reported a chronic illness as the biggest health problem in their families.
  
  
  
  Weighted analysis of cross-sectional survey responses from African-American and Hispanic adults.
  
  
  
  African Americans and Hispanics with chronic illness in their families reported experiencing challenges with the health care delivery system, with financial/economic insecurity, and with their communities that may influence how they live with chronic disease.
  
  
  
  Policymakers and clinicians should be aware that some African-American and Hispanic patients face obstacles within and beyond the health care system that are relevant to how they live with chronic conditions affecting their families. Additional tools and supports may need to be identified and supplied to effectively manage chronic illness in these communities. The payment system for physicians should account for the supplementary supports and services these patients might require.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Health Policy, Cambridge, MA, USA lsaulsberry@fas.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Loren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saulsberry
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Blendon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Benson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003415:Crime; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: African-American health; Chronic illness; Hispanic health; minority health; public opinion