Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada.
Departments of Pediatrics and Child Health, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 3P5, Canada.
Int J Equity Health. 2017 Jan 9;16(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12939-016-0510-x.
Immigrant and refugee families form a growing proportion of the Canadian population and experience barriers in accessing primary health care services. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of access to primary health care by African immigrant and refugee families.
Eighty-three families originating from 15 African countries took part in multiple open ended interviews in western Canada. Qualitative data was collected in six different languages between 2013 and 2015. Data analysis involved delineating units of meaning from the data, clustering units of meaning to form thematic statements, and extracting themes.
African immigrant and refugee families experienced challenges in their quest to access primary health care that were represented by three themes: Expectations not quite met, facing a new life, and let's buddy up to improve access. On the theme of expectations not quite met, families struggled to understand and become familiar with a new health system that presented with a number of barriers including lengthy wait times, a shortage of health care providers, high cost of medication and non-basic health care, and less than ideal care. On the theme of facing a new life, immigrant and refugee families talked of the difficulties of getting used to their new and unfamiliar environments and the barriers that impact their access to health care services. They talked of challenges related to transportation, weather, employment, language and cultural differences, and lack of social support in their quest to access health care services. Additionally, families expressed their lack of social support in accessing care. Privately sponsored families and families with children experienced even less social support. Importantly, in the theme of let's buddy up to improve access, families recommended utilizing networking approaches to engage and improve their access to primary health care services.
African immigrant and refugee families experience barriers to accessing primary health care. To improve access, culturally relevant programs, collaborative networking approaches, and policies that focus on addressing social determinants of health are needed.
移民和难民家庭在加拿大人口中所占比例不断增加，他们在获得初级卫生保健服务方面存在障碍。本研究旨在探讨非洲移民和难民家庭获得初级卫生保健的经历。
83 个家庭来自 15 个非洲国家，在加拿大西部参加了多次开放式访谈。2013 年至 2015 年期间，以六种不同的语言收集了定性数据。数据分析包括从数据中划定意义单位、将意义单位聚类形成主题陈述和提取主题。
非洲移民和难民家庭在寻求获得初级卫生保健方面遇到了挑战，这些挑战表现为三个主题：期望未完全实现、面对新生活和建立伙伴关系以改善获得途径。在期望未完全实现的主题中，家庭努力理解和熟悉一个新的卫生系统，该系统存在许多障碍，包括长时间的等待时间、医疗保健提供者短缺、药物和非基本医疗费用高以及护理不理想。在面对新生活的主题中，移民和难民家庭谈到了适应新的和不熟悉的环境的困难以及影响他们获得医疗保健服务的障碍。他们谈到了与交通、天气、就业、语言和文化差异以及缺乏社会支持相关的挑战，以及在寻求获得医疗保健服务方面的困难。此外，家庭在获得护理方面表示缺乏社会支持。私人赞助的家庭和有孩子的家庭获得的社会支持更少。重要的是，在改善获得途径的主题中，家庭建议利用网络方法来参与和改善他们获得初级卫生保健服务的途径。
非洲移民和难民家庭在获得初级卫生保健方面存在障碍。为了改善获得途径，需要开展文化相关项目、协作网络方法以及侧重于解决健康社会决定因素的政策。
