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The Types of Trust Involved in American Muslim Healthcare Decisions: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

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Abstract

Trust in physicians and the healthcare system underlies some disparities noted among minority populations, yet a descriptive typology of different types of trust informing healthcare decisions among minority populations is limited. Using data from 13 focus groups with 102 American Muslims, we identified the types and influence of trust in healthcare decision-making. Participants conveyed four types of trust implicating their health-seeking behaviors—(I) trust in allopathic medicine, (II) trust in God, (III) trust in personal relationships, and (IV) trust in self. Healthcare disparity research can benefit from assessing how these types of trust are associated with health outcomes among minority populations so as to inform intervention programs that seek to enhance trust as a means to improve community health.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our respondents for sharing their insights with us, and our community partners for their invaluable recruitment assistance and support: Muzammil Ahmed MD, Hamada Hamid DO MPH from the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding, Adnan Hammad Ph.D. from the Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services, Mouhib Ayyas MD from the Islamic Shura Council of Michigan, and Ghalib Begg from the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan. Lastly, a note of thanks to our troupe of research assistants, Heather Tidrick, Afrah Raza, Shoaib Rasheed, Ali Beydoun, Nadia Samaha, David Krass, Imen Alem, Samia Arshad and Sofia Sami for their invaluable assistance.

Funding

This project and the time-effort of AIP was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program with additional project funding was provided by the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding. An Institutional Research Grant (#58-004) from the American Cancer Society to the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant (#P30 CA14599) provided partial support for SM’s time-effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Initiative on Islam and Medicine, Program on Medicine and Religion, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC 5068, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Aasim I. Padela, Liese Pruitt & Saleha Mallick

  2. Section of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Aasim I. Padela

  3. MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Aasim I. Padela

  4. Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Liese Pruitt

  5. College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Peoria, IL, USA

    Saleha Mallick

Authors
  1. Aasim I. Padela
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  2. Liese Pruitt
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  3. Saleha Mallick
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Correspondence to Aasim I. Padela.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent (both written and verbal) was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Padela, A.I., Pruitt, L. & Mallick, S. The Types of Trust Involved in American Muslim Healthcare Decisions: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. J Relig Health 56, 1478–1488 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0387-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0387-z

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