Healthcare in Amish Communities

For this research, I conducted a short survey with six participants from the Junction City, Ohio, Amish community to better understand the factors that influence how people seek healthcare in a rural setting. The survey used a combination of structured and open-ended questions addressing access to medical care, transportation, cost, distance, home and natural remedies, and decisions about when professional care is necessary.

Participants were recruited through in-person community interactions during field research in Junction City. Because the sample was small and locally recruited, the results are not intended to represent the entire Amish population. Instead, the survey was used to identify recurring experiences and barriers within this specific group of participants.

Interview Data Organized

After collecting the responses, I reviewed each survey for repeated themes. Responses were grouped into categories such as transportation, distance, cost, natural care, and waiting to see whether an illness improved before seeking professional treatment. I then counted how many participants mentioned each theme and compared patterns across responses.

The visualizations translate these findings into participant-level and summary graphics. Rather than presenting the results as broad population statistics, the graphics show how individual responses connect to recurring barriers, making both the patterns and the limited sample size visible.