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Journal of General Internal Medicine
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine 6/2008

01-06-2008 | Populations at Risk

Differences in the Patterns of Health Care System Distrust Between Blacks and Whites

Authors: Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, Suzanne McMurphy, PhD, Lorraine T. Dean, Ellyn Micco, Mary Putt, ScD, Chanita Hughes Halbert, PhD, J. Sanford Schwartz, MD, Pamela Sankar, PhD, Reed E. Pyeritz, MD, PhD, Barbara Bernhardt, MS, Judy A. Shea, PhD

Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 6/2008

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Abstract

Context

Although health care-related distrust may contribute to racial disparities in health and health care in the US, current evidence about racial differences in distrust is often conflicting, largely limited to measures of physician trust, and rarely linked to multidimensional trust or distrust.

Objective

To test the hypothesis that racial differences in health care system distrust are more closely linked to values distrust than to competence distrust.

Design

Cross-sectional telephone survey.

Participants

Two hundred fifty-five individuals (144 black, 92 white) who had been treated in primary care practices or the emergency department of a large, urban Mid-Atlantic health system.

Primary measures

Race, scores on the overall health care system distrust scale and on the 2 distrust subscales, values distrust and competence distrust.

Results

In univariate analysis, overall health care system distrust scores were slightly higher among blacks than whites (25.8 vs 24.1, p = .05); however, this difference was driven by racial differences in values distrust scores (15.4 vs 13.8, p = .003) rather than in competence distrust scores (10.4 vs 10.3, p = .85). After adjustment for socioeconomic status, health/psychological status, and health care access, individuals in the top quartile of values distrust were significantly more likely to be black (odds ratio = 2.60, 95% confidence interval = 1.03–6.58), but there was no significant association between race and competence distrust.

Conclusions

Racial differences in health care system distrust are complex with far greater differences seen in the domain of values distrust than in competence distrust. This framework may be useful for explaining the mixed results of studies of race and health care-related distrust to date, for the design of future studies exploring the causes of racial disparities in health and health care, and for the development and testing of novel strategies for reducing these disparities.
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Metadata
Title
Differences in the Patterns of Health Care System Distrust Between Blacks and Whites
Authors
Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE
Suzanne McMurphy, PhD
Lorraine T. Dean
Ellyn Micco
Mary Putt, ScD
Chanita Hughes Halbert, PhD
J. Sanford Schwartz, MD
Pamela Sankar, PhD
Reed E. Pyeritz, MD, PhD
Barbara Bernhardt, MS
Judy A. Shea, PhD
Publication date
01-06-2008
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Journal of General Internal Medicine / Issue 6/2008
Print ISSN: 0884-8734
Electronic ISSN: 1525-1497
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0561-9

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