Context: Discussions with faculty at Paul Quinn College (PQC), a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), suggested that barriers to healthcare accessibility exist on campus. Little is known about why there appears to be limited use of student health services. Because these services are and would be a primary source of healthcare for many students, PQC has prioritized addressing this knowledge gap.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to conduct a focus group session with undergraduate students at Paul Quinn College to assess attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs regarding the navigation of healthcare as a college student.
Study Design: Qualitative study with a cross-sectional survey.
Setting: Undergraduate students (n=10) from PQC.
Instrument: A 20-question Redcap survey was administered to all 10 participants. Focus groups were conducted in groups of 2 undergraduate students with 2 moderators to generate deeper discussion regarding the survey and student needs.
Main Outcome Measures: Survey results were collected concerning major health concerns, interests in health topics, health status since starting university, beliefs, and attitudes regarding healthcare at PQC, etc. Qualitative data was also collected from focus group discussions.
Results: Students’ greatest health concerns included stress (80%), burnout (40%), poor nutrition and poor eating habits (40%), depression (30%), sleep hygiene (30%), and diabetes (30%). For 45.5% of students, health status worsened since starting university. A recurring theme during focus group discussions included interests in specialty insurances (dental and vision) not currently included in the insurance plan offered to students.
Conclusions: Findings from the focus group session and the survey reveal valuable information regarding student beliefs and attitudes of student health and healthcare at PQC. An educational curriculum to address the concerns and needs of students is in progress with the input from faculty at PQC. Future efforts should reevaluate the attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs of Paul Quinn students by conducting another focus group session and administering the same survey in order to assess the efficacy of the curriculum once initiated.