Social and Cultural Challenges in Caring for Latinx Individuals With Kidney Failure in Urban Settings

IMPORTANCE: Latinx individuals with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) constitute 19% of US patients receiving in-center scheduled hemodialysis. Compared with non-Latinx White patients, Latinx individuals often face poor economic, environmental, and living circumstances. The challenges for health care professionals engendered by these circumstances when Latinx individuals present with ESKD and possible solutions have not been well described. OBJECTIVE: To examine the perceptions of interdisciplinary health care professionals who work in dialysis centers in urban settings with large racial and ethnic minority populations about how social challenges affect the care of Latinx patients with ESKD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This qualitative study administered semistructured interviews of interdisciplinary health care professionals at 4 urban dialysis centers in Denver, Colorado, from April 1 to June 30, 2019. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Themes and subthemes of barriers to care. RESULTS: Thirty interdisciplinary dialysis center health care professionals (23 [77%] female; mean [SD] age, 42.0 [11.6] years) participated. Four themes were identified. The first 3 themes and their respective subthemes (in parentheses) describe challenges to kidney care: compromised quality of care attributable to communication and cultural barriers (language interpretation by telephone, in-person language interpretation, burden of ad hoc interpretation, low-quality health care, lack of language- and culturally concordant materials, and health literacy levels), difficulty with health care access (unreliable transportation, economic instability, and loss of insurance benefits), and concerns about patient psychosocial well-being (social isolation, hopelessness, stigma of illness, and balancing personal social challenges). The fourth theme describes solutions to improve care (culturally responsive care, patient empowerment and activation, supporting primary caregivers, and peer support with navigation of the health care system). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study’s findings suggest that dialysis center policies are needed that require high-quality language interpretation and the availability of culturally concordant educational materials. Community-based interventions that improve patient activation and provide peer support as well as culturally responsive care may improve the care of Latinx patients with ESKD receiving in-center scheduled hemodialysis.