Access to and Utilization of Health Care for Young Homeless Mothers in Durban, South Africa

Abstract

This is a study about young homeless mothers and their perspective of health and experiences with access to and utilization of health care. The study was conducted in Durban, South Africa with a group of eleven young homeless mothers. This is a qualitative study, and we used observation, individual interviews and focus groups to collect data in the field. Youth who are homeless face several threats to their health, and is considered vulnerable for negative health outcomes. Despite this fact it has been shown that this population group lacks access to health care services. To improve this situation it is vital that we learn more about how this population views health and about their experiences with health care. We found that how young homeless mothers are treated when they seek health care is of vital importance for this population's health seeking behavior. Poor treatment by health care staff deterred the participants from seeking health care. However, in spite of this barrier the participants still accessed and utilized health care. This can partly be explained by few other barriers to health care for this population in Durban, and due to a relatively high awareness of health and illness. With this study we have found that we should focus on young homeless mothers' strengths rather than their vulnerabilities. The participants were able to access health care in spite of the barriers they had to overcome. Although full utilization of the services became difficult due to harsh treatment from health care staff, they still chose to seek help as several of them were dependent on professional health care to take care of themselves and their children. These young homeless mothers were able to get the help they needed although they fall outside of the system as a group, and this is a strength we should focus on when trying to create better access to health care for this population.