Dong Mei, Levine Alissa, Loignon Christine, Bedos Christophe
McGill University, Montreal, QC.
J Can Dent Assoc. 2011;77:b131.
To better understand the dental health care pathways of Montreal-based Chinese immigrants.
An ethnographic study based on 12 in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews was conducted among low-income Chinese immigrants in Montreal, Canada, from January to June 2005. Data about their dental health care-seeking pathways, barriers to the use of professional dental health care services and attitudes to dental health care were collected and coded, and resulting themes analyzed.
Dental health care pathways include self-treatment and consulting a dentist in Canada or during a return visit to China. The pathways vary, depending on the circumstances. For dental caries and other acute dental diseases such as toothache, Chinese immigrants preferred to consult a dentist. For chronic diseases, some of them relied on self-treatment. Financial problems, and language and cultural barriers were the main factors that affected Chinese immigrants' access to dental care services in Canada.
Understanding immigrants' dental health care pathways can help dental health care providers supply culturally competent services and help policy makers devise preventive dental health care programs to suit community needs and cultural contexts.
更好地了解蒙特利尔市华裔移民的牙齿保健途径。
2005年1月至6月，在加拿大蒙特利尔市对低收入华裔移民进行了一项基于12次深度半结构化定性访谈的人种学研究。收集了有关他们寻求牙齿保健途径、使用专业牙齿保健服务的障碍以及对牙齿保健态度的数据，并进行编码，然后对得出的主题进行分析。
牙齿保健途径包括自我治疗以及在加拿大或回国期间咨询牙医。这些途径因情况而异。对于龋齿和其他急性牙齿疾病，如牙痛，华裔移民更倾向于咨询牙医。对于慢性病，他们中的一些人依靠自我治疗。经济问题、语言和文化障碍是影响华裔移民在加拿大获得牙齿保健服务的主要因素。
了解移民的牙齿保健途径有助于牙齿保健提供者提供具有文化胜任力的服务，并有助于政策制定者制定适合社区需求和文化背景的预防性牙齿保健计划。
