A “DisJOINTed” Relationship: Older African Americans’ Osteoarthritis Pain Management Experiences with Healthcare Providers

Managing debilitating chronic pain due to osteoarthritis often presents significant challenges for historically marginalized populations such as African American older adults. This qualitative analysis examined older African Americans’ (N = 18) encounters with healthcare providers when seeking chronic pain treatment for osteoarthritis. A conventional thematic analysis identified five major themes: (1) Seeking treatment is a nuanced balance of overcoming personal delays to receive professional help and decision support, (2) Experiencing mistreatment diminishes faith in providers and increases faith in a higher power, (3) Advocating for informed care is a necessary challenge, (4) Receiving limited treatment options results in disjointed care and culturally informed self-care, and (5) Experiencing “good” care is rare but appreciated. The quality of patient-provider relationships varied considerably and resulted in dis joint ed care. These results illuminate the 21 st century experiences of navigating a complex and biased healthcare system and emphasize opportunities for providers to increase advocacy and empathy.