Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Sep 13;13:350. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-350.
During the 90s, Greece has been transformed to a host country for immigrants mostly from the Balkans and Eastern European Countries, who currently constitute approximately 9% of the total population. Despite the increasing number of the immigrants, little is known about their health status and their accessibility to healthcare services. This study aimed to explore the perceived barriers to access and utilization of healthcare services by immigrants in Greece.
A pilot cross-sectional study was conducted from January to April 2012 in Athens, Greece. The study population consisted of 191 immigrants who were living in Greece for less than 10 years. We developed a questionnaire that included information about sociodemographic characteristics, health status, public health services knowledge and utilization and difficulties in health services access. Statistical analysis included Pearson's ×2 test, ×2 test for trend, Student's t-test, analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation coefficient.
Only 20.4% of the participants reported that they had a good/very good degree of knowledge about public health services in Greece. A considerable percentage (62.3%) of the participants needed at least once to use health services but they could not afford it, during the last year, while 49.7% used public health services in the last 12 months in Greece. Among the most important problems were long waiting times in hospitals, difficulties in communication with health professionals and high cost of health care. Increased ability to speak Greek was associated with increased health services knowledge (p<0.001). Increased family monthly income was also associated with less difficulties in accessing health services (p<0.001).
The empowerment and facilitation of health care access for immigrants in Greece is necessary. Depending on the needs of the migrant population, simple measures such as comprehensive information regarding the available health services and the terms for accessibility is an important step towards enabling better access to needed services.
20 世纪 90 年代，希腊转变为移民主要来自巴尔干半岛和东欧国家的收容国，这些移民目前约占总人口的 9%。尽管移民人数不断增加，但他们的健康状况和获得医疗保健服务的情况鲜为人知。本研究旨在探讨希腊移民获得和利用医疗保健服务的感知障碍。
2012 年 1 月至 4 月在希腊雅典进行了一项试点横断面研究。研究人群由 191 名在希腊居住不到 10 年的移民组成。我们开发了一份问卷，其中包括社会人口特征、健康状况、公共卫生服务知识和利用以及获取卫生服务的困难等信息。统计分析包括 Pearson's χ2 检验、χ2 检验趋势、Student's t 检验、方差分析和 Pearson 相关系数。
只有 20.4%的参与者表示他们对希腊的公共卫生服务有很好/非常好的了解程度。相当一部分（62.3%）参与者在过去一年中至少有一次需要使用医疗服务但无法负担费用，而 49.7%的参与者在过去 12 个月内在希腊使用了公共卫生服务。最重要的问题之一是医院的候诊时间长、与卫生专业人员沟通困难和医疗保健费用高。希腊语能力的提高与卫生服务知识的提高有关（p<0.001）。家庭月收入的增加也与获得医疗服务的困难减少有关（p<0.001）。
希腊有必要为移民提供医疗保健服务。根据移民人口的需求，提供有关可用卫生服务的综合信息以及获取服务的条件等简单措施，是实现更好地获得所需服务的重要一步。
