Potential Barriers to Utilizing Health Services among Multi-Ethnic Communities in Samarinda City: A Qualitative Study

Background: Users of multi-ethnic services are sometimes faced with barriers when using health services.However, health care providers are sometimes not aware of these barriers, even though they may share alittle more responsibility for them. To enlighten service providers, such as potential pitfalls that may exist,will be explored by various factors that trigger these barriers.Objective: This study aims to explore and identify potential barriers to the utilization of health servicesamong multi-ethnic communities in Samarinda city.Method: There were 28 informants from 4 ethnic groups (Javanese, Buginese, Banjar ethnic, and Dayakethnic) who were selected by purposive sampling according to the criteria set (n-28). Key informants fromthe community leaders and traditional leaders of each ethnic group (n = 4). Data analysis used contentanalysis to analyze the phenomena found in the studyResults: Potential barriers occur at three different levels: service user level, provider level, and system level.Barriers at the service user level were related to the characteristics of service users: socioeconomic conditions,heritage lifestyle, family support, income of the family head, entry to NHIS member, transportation andtravel time. Barriers at the provider level were related to provider characteristics: attitudes, communicationdan information style, ethnic matching program. System-level barriers were related to system characteristics:referral system.Conclusion: Several potential barriers have been found but are more related to the level of service providersand the level of the health systems.