“When Is Health Care Actually Going to Be Care?” The Lived Experience of Family Planning Care Among Young Black Women

Abstract

While family planning care (FPC) visits may serve as opportunities to address gaps in knowledge and access to limited resources, young Black women may also face structural barriers (i.e., racism, discrimination, bias) to engaging in care due to the intersections of racial identity, age, and socioeconomic status. Findings from interviews with 22 Black women, ages 18 to 29 years, about the lived experience of FPC highlighted dynamic patient–provider encounters. Women’s narratives uncovered the following essences: silence around sex impedes engagement in care, patient–provider racial concordance as protection from harm, providers as a source of discouragement and misinformation, frustration as a normative experience, decision making excludes discussion and deliberation, medical mistrust is pervasive and a part of Black consciousness, and meaningful and empathic patient–provider encounters are elusive. Health systems should prioritize developing and enhancing young Black women’s relationship with FPC providers to help mitigate persistent inequities that perpetuate disadvantage among this population.