Latina women suffer a higher burden of pelvic floor disorders compared to other racial/ethnic groups. In spite of this, they tend to delay seeking care. This study examined care-seeking behaviors among Latina women presenting to Urology clinics in Los Angeles to assess whether cultural, psychosocial, and clinical factors could determine the willingness to discuss pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) symptoms and seek care.

We did a cross-sectional study of Latina women in Los Angeles using standardized surveys, including measures of acculturation; Latin-American values (familism, respect, religion, and gender roles) and US cultural values (independence, material success, and competition); knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and beliefs about PFDs; pelvic floor disorders symptoms; and measures of stress and discrimination. We included Latina women presenting to USC Urology clinics (N = 156). Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression, and multinomial logistic regression were performed to identify variables associated with disclosing symptoms to friends or family, seeking care, and time to seek care, significant at a p-value < 0.05. In this study, we included all women who responded ‘yes’ or ‘unsure’ to the question “Do you have symptoms of a pelvic floor disorder?” this included 110 clinic women.

Among women recruited in the clinics (N = 110), the median number of months of delay in discussing symptoms with doctors or friends/family were 6.95 and 3, respectively. Among women from the clinics, 63.3% shared discussing their symptoms with friends or relatives, with 88.1% having confided symptoms with a doctor. Only 37% sought care right away, and 15.7% of women who did not seek care right away expressed it was due to financial concerns, while 70.4% were due to a lack of making the symptoms a priority. In the logistic regression models, higher respect value scores were associated with women being more likely to seek care right away (OR = 3.27, 95%CI = 1.44-7.42), and less likely to not seek care due to lack of priority (OR = 0.31, 95%CI= 0.13-0.75). Women who delayed longer to seek care from doctors were more likely to have higher Latin American Orientation Score (LAOS) (OR=3.29, 95%CI=1.21-8.95) and lower respect value (OR=0.16, 95%CI=0.04-0.63).

The education levels and Latin-American Values, such as respect, familism, and religion, are relevant in determining whether a Latina woman delays confiding her symptoms with friends, relatives, or doctors. The higher score for respect value and a lower score for material success were key determinants for being more likely to seek care right away. A lower education level and higher scores for respect and competition values were key determinants for being more likely not to seek care due to financial concerns.

The care-seeking behaviors of Latina women were influenced by their values including US values and Latin-American values. Interventions that take into account these Latin American values are needed to raise awareness about pelvic floor disorders and to encourage women to recognize symptoms and discuss them with their healthcare providers.