Blood pressure and barbershops
By Stacey Butterfield
To figure out why many Black men don't regularly see primary care physicians, Joseph Ravenell, MD, simply asked some of them.
"I actually undertook a qualitative study of over 100 Black men. We intentionally recruited a broad cross-section … older men, younger men, men who were men who were HIV-positive, men who were churchgoing, men who are trauma survivors," he explained during the Thursday session "Black Men's Health."
The study revealed some common barriers to seeking health care, including fear, mistrust, and lack of perceived necessity, said Dr. Ravenell, who is an associate professor of medicine and of population health at NYU Langone.
"But when we drilled down, it seemed to be not necessarily that they didn't feel they needed a doctor," he said. "What they were doing was actually making the calculation of 'Is this problem that I'm having worth all of the trouble that I'm going to go through to get help, and ultimately maybe not even get the help that I need?'"
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