Refugee Trust in Health Care Providers

Mary Sidorevich, Linda Weber

Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY, USA

Using data collected from a public health clinic in Utica, NY, this research examines refugee patient trust in health care providers. Various factors are examined, including being born in the U.S., race, trust in one’s own physician, trust in all physicians, and perceptions of quality of care. Findings indicate that Burmese/Karen/Nepali refugees are less likely to trust their own physician than White patients, but at similar levels of trust as Black patients. Among those not born in the U.S., Burmese/Karen/Nepali individuals are less likely to trust in their own physicians than Hispanics who were also not born in the U.S. Assessments of trust in all physicians in general yielded no significant differences when comparing racial/ethnic groups in this study.