Implicit Racial Bias, Health Care Provider Attitudes, and Perceptions of Health Care Quality Among African American College Students in Georgia, USA

Abstract

Objective: Due to racism, over 20% of African Americans, including college students in Georgia, receive poor quality health care. Consequently, most students are reluctant to utilize health care services in the state. This study examined biased racial attitudes of health care providers in Georgia, and African American Georgia State University (GSU) School of Public Health (SPH) students' perceptions of the quality of health care they receive from providers, the effects of such care, and student recommendations for the way forward.

Design: A mixed-methods cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 63 students across six domains using Qualtrics.

Results: Provider brushes off patient concerns when providing medical care (29.9%), stereotyping (26.9%), and the lack of communication during medical care (25.4%) were the three main implicit racial attitudes identified by GSU SPH students. Owing to the poor quality of care they receive from their health care providers, some students (28.4%) are reluctant to utilize health care services, distrust doctors that are not from their race (34.3%), do not adhere to treatment (19.4%), and prefer to use home remedies (28.4%) when ill. Students recommended cultural competency training, holding health care providers accountable for their actions, and increasing African American health care providers in Georgia as ways to address health care provider attitudes and quality of care.

Conclusion: Negative provider attitudes impact the health and health-seeking behavior of African American college students in Georgia. These attitudes must be eliminated so barriers to clinical participation are removed, and student health outcomes optimized.

Keywords: College students; Georgia State University; Health care provider attitudes; Implicit bias; Racism.