Young Aboriginal People's Perspective on Access to Health Care in Remote Australia: Hearing Their Voices

Background: Young Australian Aboriginal people experience poor health outcomes, yet young people and Aboriginal peole have low use of health care. Objective: To identify barriers and enablers of access for adolescent and young adult Aboriginal people at Derby Aboriginal Health Service (DAHS), a remote Western Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHSs), to assist in improving access. Methods: This qualitative study was in the remote Kimberleytown of Derby and three Aboriginal communities servicedby DAHS. Semistructured interviews with 26 youngAboriginal people in 2014 and 2015 were used to identifybarriers and enablers to accessing local health care services. Results: Participants appreciated interacting with Aboriginalstaff, local staff, and longer term DAHS staff. This improvedcommunication and interpersonal interactions, which werereported to be of prime importance for young Aboriginalpeople accessing health services. Maintaining confidentiality,minimizing shame, and gender matching with health staffwere also key issues for young people. Seeking health carewas often based on acute need rather than proactive orpreventive care; however, participants recognized that providinghealth education and health promotion should be apriority for the service. Conclusions: A number of approaches to improving healthservice use by young remote Aboriginal people may be effective.Improving youth engagement seems to be central toincreasing acceptability and, hence, use. This requires thatstaff able to engage with young people are recruited, trained,and retained. More immediately, a range of simpler changesto service provision focus and environment for young peoplecould potentially make important differences. © 2019 Johns Hopkins University Press. All rights reserved.