Spanish-speaking families reported lower perceived discrimination than English-speaking families independent of concordance (beta=0.255, p=0.002)

Description #

In the OLS survey model, lower perceived discrimination was significantly associated with the patient's native language — Spanish-speaking families reported less perceived discrimination than English-speaking families (patient's-language β = 0.255, p = 0.002 per Table 5) — but was NOT associated with language concordance (concordance β = −0.059, p = 0.486) (Table 5). This is a null result for concordance on perceived discrimination: the difference tracked speaking Spanish, not visit concordance. NOTE: the Results text states this effect as p = 0.001, whereas Table 5 reports the patient's-language coefficient p-value as 0.002 — an internal inconsistency; both are quoted verbatim below.

"Spanish speakers irrespective of the language concordance had significantly better trust and lower perceived discrimination scores compared to English-speaking families (p < 0.001; p = 0.001)." (Jaramillo, 2016, p. 672)

"The difference in perceived discrimination scores is due to 3.5% of English-speaking patients reporting that they felt providers showed less respect for parent's comments." (Jaramillo, 2016, p. 672)

Methods Context #

What? #ⓘ

The observable: the participant's 5-point Likert rating on the perceived-discrimination survey domain.

"Participants indicated their level of agreement with a series of 15 questions using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree/very negative/never) to 5 (strongly agree/very positive/always)." (Jaramillo, 2016, p. 672)

How? #ⓘ

A surgery-specific post-visit satisfaction survey analyzed by OLS regression using language concordance and patient's language as explanatory variables. The concordant-Spanish arm received care via A-0013ArtifactA-0013Initial AI draftThe Hispanic Clinic for Pediatric SurgeryA dedicated language-concordant outpatient clinic model at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (Stanford) in which Spanish-speaking LEP families of pediatric surgery patients are cared for directly by a fluent Spanish-spe….

"Regression modeling was used to determine the factors associated with survey results using language concordance and patient's language as explanatory variables." (Jaramillo, 2016, p. 672)

Who? #ⓘ

The 156-family cohort of pediatric surgery patients at a single academic children's hospital, surveyed after their visit.

"A total of 156 families were enrolled including 57 concordant-English, 52 LEP concordant-Spanish and 47 LEP discordant families." (Jaramillo, 2016, p. 672)

Other Notes #

Table 5 Perceived Discrimination coefficients: language concordance −0.059 (p = 0.486, non-significant) and patient's language 0.255 (p = 0.002). Text vs table p-value discrepancy (0.001 vs 0.002) flagged above.