P3.167: Perspectives on a Novel Women’s Health Program for Arabic-, Dari-, and Pashto-speaking Newcomer Women

Background: In the last few years, Connecticut has welcomed thousands of refugees and asylum seekers, over half of which are women. These newcomer women are at risk for health care access disparities due to barriers in education, exposure to gender-based violence, displacement, and difficulty navigating the US healthcare system. Cultural differences and language barriers also present a significant obstacle, oftentimes hindering effective communication with healthcare providers and contributing to low health literacy.

For women and girls, access to essential health knowledge and services is a critical element of patient autonomy and integration. However, it remains unclear how attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs towards women’s health shape access to healthcare services for newcomer women. To address these gaps, a novel trainee-led women’s health education program for Arab and Afghan newcomer women was developed and implemented in July and August 2024. We aimed to understand health-seeking attitudes and behaviors for Arabic-, Dari-, and Pashto-speaking women who participated in a six-part weekly, in-person health education program in New Haven, CT.

Methods: Following Kern’s framework for curricular development, obstetrics-gynecology residents developed and taught six sessions on prenatal health, labor/delivery, postpartum care, mental health, family planning, and gynecologic health under faculty supervision. All participants were invited to attend all six classes. Using convenience sampling, we recruited participants for audio-recorded, virtual, confidential semi-structured interviews with live interpretation. The interview guide, adapted from a previously developed health program evaluation tool with expert input, guided discussions. Two coders analyzed interview transcripts using conventional content analysis, reconciling codes through consensus and identifying emerging themes.

Results: Twelve of 19 participants completed interviews. Four themes emerged: 1) Increased knowledge of women’s health topics promoted patient empowerment and agency (“It helps to do... tests that I was worried before...now I know so I’m able to do it”); 2) Barriers to equitable health access persisted in navigating the US healthcare system and accessing community programming; 3) Participants demonstrated improved health- seeking attitudes and behaviors; 4) Open communication with healthcare providers fostered informed-decision making and confidence (“I have more confidence to ask...if I have health issues”).

Conclusion: We found that a women’s health education program for recently-arrived refugee women can promote empowerment, awareness of healthcare services, and health-seeking confidence. However, barriers to equitable health access, such as childcare and transportation, remain.