Black Patients' Lived Experiences and Perceptions of Skin of Color Clinics

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Across the U.S. Skin of Color (SOC) clinics have been established with the goal of providing medical care and supporting research related to patients with skin of color. There have been no formal studies evaluating why patients seek medical care at SOC clinics or treatment outcomes. Reasons may include past experiences with other providers, the perception that providers working in these clinics have a special interest or knowledge in caring for patients with skin of color and thus may provide better care, the expectation of cultural sensitivity, the hope that their provider may have a similar ethnic background, and/or ease of communication with their provider. Through focus group discussions we aim to identify the factors influencing a patient's choice to seek medical care at a SOC clinic and to gain insight into the presence and impact of racial concordance between provider and patient. The current study will focus on self-identified African American patients with interest in conducting similar sessions with patients of other ethnicities and races in the future.

Official Title
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Black Patients' Lived Experiences and Perceptions of Skin of Color Clinics

Conditions
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Perception of Skin of Color Clinics in African Americans

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Evaluated in the Northwestern Center for Ethnic Skin between February 1, 2015 and February 1, 2016. Evaluated by Drs. Stavonnie Patterson or Roopal Kundu Age 18 or older Self identified as African American/Black All subjects must have given signed, informed consent prior to participation in study. Exclusion Criteria: English speaking as interpreters not available Existing mental health conditions that may interfere with focus group discussion

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Focus group<br>Each focus group (4 total) will be approximately 90 minutes in duration. A trained facilitator will pose 8 scripted questions to the focus group participants and manage the conversation, ensuring all participants have an opportunity to respond and steering the conversation to remain on task. A note-taker will also be present at the focus group to document via handwritten notes the flow and content of the focus group conversation. All focus groups will be audio taped and transcribed. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Common thematic responses of discussion groups | Audiotapes of focus group discussions will be transcribed, and the transcripts will be analyzed via a 'long-hand' inductive approach by two dermatologists and one psychologist. For each of the 8 posed focus group questions, the reviewers will independently induce a common thematic response. Collectively, they will then compare their independently derived themes, identifying themes of agreement and disagreement. Areas of disagreement will be further reviewed until a mutually agreed upon final set of themes is identified. The raw data corresponding to the item in question will be classified according to its theme. | 100 minutes |