Supporting Underserved Communities for Health Care: US Immigrants’ Experiences with Social Support

Abstract

Background Social support is associated with improved clinical outcomes but is understudied among US immigrants. We examined two types of social support, perceived health provider support and community support, and characterized perceptions of social support among US immigrants compared with nonimmigrants. Methods We conducted cross-sectional data analysis on self-reported data from Health Information National Trends Survey 5, Cycle 2. Population-level estimates were obtained using jack-knife replicate weights. Results Immigrant status was not associated with perceived health care provider support or community support. However, compared with nonimmigrants, US immigrants were more likely to report rarely (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=3.07) or never (aOR=3.18) having access to emotional support. Conclusions Further research that incorporates nuanced factors (eg, time since arrival) that may influence social support in diverse US immigrant groups is needed to determine the impact of social support on health outcomes in an underserved and often overlooked population.