Article Text
Abstract
Objective The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge of and barriers to osteopathic medicine in Chinese immigrant communities in New York City (NYC).
Design A cross-sectional study was designed in which a culturally appropriate survey in Chinese and English versions was administered anonymously to measure immigrant perceptions and knowledge of osteopathic medicine.
Setting Data collection occurred in the municipal delineations for the Chinatown neighbourhood within the New York, New York borough of Manhattan.
Participants Community members were selected using convenience sampling from high-density areas to participate. Information gathered from the survey included demographics, education level, healthcare habits and knowledge of the osteopathic profession.
Results 120 surveys were conducted with 68 males and 52 females, with an average age=40. Respondents in the age range of 18–29 years, those with fluent English-language proficiency, and participants with graduate-level education status demonstrated a higher proportion of knowledge of osteopathic manipulative medicine and osteopathic physicians (doctors of osteopathic medicine) among the study variables.
Conclusion Compared with research on the general US population, a general lack of knowledge of osteopathic medicine exists within NYC’s Chinese immigrant community. Although this difference may be ascribed to linguistics and ethnosociological factors, greater outreach and education is needed in urban minority communities to make immigrants aware of all healthcare resources available during the current shortage of US primary care physicians.
- attitude to health
- community-based participatory research
- community medicine
- family health
- health communication
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Footnotes
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Contributors JC, SL, GY, YAZ, PJW, ED, MV, SS, MAT and CML equally: provided substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, gave final approval of the version of the article to be published, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval This study was approved by the Touro College Health Sciences Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (HSIRB #1777).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available on reasonable request. All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as online supplementary information. Data are available on reasonable request to the corresponding author.