Access to primary healthcare services for adults with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean: a review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.
Veronika Reichenberger, Ana Paula Corona, Vinicius Delgado Ramos and 4 others
PMID 38433528WHAT IT FOUND
People with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean face barriers to primary healthcare, including inaccessible information, poor transport links, and untrained providers.
Most evidence comes from Brazil, with significant gaps for people with intellectual impairments.
Key findings
01Lack of accessible health information, particularly for visual and hearing impairments, hinders people's ability to perceive their healthcare needs.
02Inadequate urban infrastructure and transportation options prevent people from reaching healthcare facilities, often requiring family assistance.
03Healthcare providers report lacking training and confidence in caring for patients with specific disabilities, leading to referrals and poor interpersonal care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The majority of included studies were conducted in Brazil, limiting the generalizability of findings to the wider Latin American and Caribbean region. There was a lack of evidence regarding people with intellectual impairments, so findings cannot be generalized to this group. The review relied on reported data from the included studies and did not access primary data, which may have missed nuances. Study quality varied, and none of the included studies met all COREQ checklist requirements. The Levesque framework is not specific to disability, requiring some interpretation by the authors to fit the findings.
Declared interests
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these barriers apply equally across all Latin American countries or to all disability types. The evidence is heavily skewed toward Brazil and physical/sensory impairments, with very little data on intellectual impairments or other nations, so practice changes should be contextualized.