Table 2.

Qualitative Data on Barriers Identified for Urban Southwest American Indians

Barrier Type:
Lack of Access to Care	• “…wait for care due to lack of insurance or the process of   referrals.” • “Having to go to several places for care.”
Late/Mis-Diagnosis	• “They found it too late…spread all over.” • “It was not until I went to the ER…” • “Why was this not caught three years ago when she was   complaining about pain?”
Inadequate Treatment	• “…kind of being put on a conveyer belt.” • “(Nurse would) just dismiss these things that I was   worried about.” • “They did not give me medications and I had no one to   talk to.”
Lack of Appropriate Information	• “The doctors and the pamphlets that you get at the   doctor’s office is all the technical stuff…but there was   really no other alternative.” • “(I needed) someone to talk to, to explain symptoms” • “I could not read the information...I would need someone   to explain to me.”
Reliance on Public Transportation	• “I have no transportation.” • “I have no money for gas or the bus.” • “By bus it takes two hours…I have to transfer three times   and take three different buses.”
Lack of Communication	• “I don’t know why I didn’t ask if it was cancer. I never   asked if it was cancerous. I don’t know, I just left it at   that.” • “I had bruising and bleeding but our local doctor told my   mom that American Indians don’t get leukemia.”