Communication, Inclusivity, and Preventative Health: Client Experience Aboard an Urban Mobile Health Clinic

Abstract

There are approximately 2,000 mobile health clinics (MHCs) operating in the United States. While researchers have established that MHCs can be cost effective and improve outcomes, there is scant research examining the healthcare experience on an MHC from patients’ perspectives. Data were gathered from interviews with 25 clients receiving care on a Boston-based MHC and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Emerging patterns in the data revealed three relational and three structural factors most significant to participants’ experience of care on The Family Van. Relational factors include providers who 1) Communicate understandably, 2) Create a culture of respect and inclusivity, and 3) Are diverse with knowledge of the community. Structural factors include 1) A focus on preventative health and managing chronic disease, 2) Expeditious, free, and multiple services, and 3) Location. The participant accounts in this report serve to expand on prior quantitative and qualitative research exploring MHCs’ role in patients’ healthcare, to more clearly define the most salient aspects of the MHC model for the patients they serve, and to give voice to patients too seldom heard in the academic literature.