title: Information Poverty and Reproductive Healthcare: Assessing the Reasons for Inequity between Income Groups.
abstract: It is commonly known that in the United States women who are low income do not access reproductive healthcare services and information with the same reliability and regularity of women who are higher income. A qualitative research approach was undertaken to assess the root cause of this disparity. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 women divided among socioeconomic lines. The primary barriers to care for women who are low income are clinical staff attitudes, knowledge of care available and needed, and cost or lack of insurance. This study adds to the current understanding of the barriers to reproductive healthcare for women of different socioeconomic statuses.
authors.affiliation: a School of Library and Information Science , University of South Carolina , Columbia , South Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Margaret S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009657:North Carolina; D036301:Qualitative Research; D034121:Reproductive Health Services; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Reproductive health; health information seeking behavior; information poverty; low-income women; qualitative research