Background: The purpose of this research was to examine how the Three Bridges
Community Health Centre conceptualizes and addresses the issue of accessibility for gay
men. This research explored the intersection and disjuncture of how accessibility for gay
men is understood and practiced from multiple perspectives (staff and clients). It revealed
perceived and real barriers and opportunities for gay men in accessing health services,
and provides insight into the mechanisms Three Bridges Community Health Centre
employs to provide comprehensive health care to a local population that is not easily
identifiable.
Methods: Case study is the central defining methodological feature of this research. This
study applies both inductive and deductive approaches. The data are qualitative, derived
from 14 semi-structured interviews, document analysis (25 documents with a total of 398
pages) and participant observation (approximately 33 hours). Analysis and interpretation
of the data were accomplished through the various procedures and techniques associated
with qualitative data analysis, including the use of a qualitative software package -
NUD*IST 4.0.
Results: The study revealed twelve main factors that facilitate (and obstruct) accessibility
for gay men. They were developing a mission of accessibility for vulnerable populations;
assessing gay men's health issues, barriers and needs; utilization of the clinic; delivery of
appropriate programs and services; available providers with appropriate knowledge,
attitudes and behaviour; cultural accessibility (e.g., gay-friendly environment, multiple
languages); geographic accessibility (location); physical accessibility (architecture);
financial accessibility (affordability); functional accessibility (convenience); awareness
(marketing & publicity of services and location); and partners in accessibility (e.g.,
community, health authorities, government). Each section of this chapter details how
Three Bridges addresses each of these elements (the strengths), the challenges (e.g., time,
money and personnel) in addressing these issues, as well as suggestions for improving
accessibility. These factors would also be relevant for any primary care setting about to
embark upon an examination of how (well) it addresses access for gay men, and other
vulnerable populations.
Conclusions: Partnerships with community-based agencies and recruitment of queer staff
are critical in creating cultural accessibility for queer people. Many of the challenges
raised by staff need to be addressed at a policy, region-wide level. Cultural accessibility
for queer people also needs to be addressed by other healthcare settings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/13877 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Moulton, Glen |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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