Scott Hannah M, Wallis Nicola
University College London Hospital, London, UK.
Birth. 2021 Mar;48(1):114-121. doi: 10.1111/birt.12522. Epub 2020 Dec 22.
Over a two-year period between 2015 and 2016, unprecedented numbers of people arrived in Greece fleeing conflict, persecution, and poverty. With new arrivals every day, there is a significant unmet need for health care provision, posing a challenge to the Greek Healthcare System. For pregnant refugees, a known vulnerable group, this has resulted in a complex partnership of shared maternity care between humanitarian organizations, the Greek national health care system, and European multi-state initiatives. Our aim was to understand the challenges to providing maternity care services in Greek refugee camps as perceived by health care providers.
A qualitative study comprising observation and semi-structured interviews with health care providers working with pregnant refugees was conducted in five refugee camps in May 2017. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed with thematic coding.
Twenty-one health care providers were interviewed and field notes taken from observational study of services in five refugee camps. Health care providers describe difficult cross-cultural communication to be their biggest challenge to caring for pregnant refugee women. The limited availability of female only safe spaces is also identified as a barrier. Lastly, the overburdened Greek public health system limits their ability to provide care.
Our research supports other literature describing difficult communication and the overburdened Greek health system as significant health care barriers for pregnant refugees in Greece. There is limited literature examining the role of "safe space," and further research is needed. Stakeholders providing maternity care to refugees should look to tackle these key issues as they seek to provide care to this population.
在2015年至2016年的两年时间里，数量空前的人们逃离冲突、迫害和贫困来到希腊。每天都有新的抵达者，对医疗保健服务的需求远未得到满足，这给希腊医疗系统带来了挑战。对于已知的弱势群体——怀孕难民而言，这导致了人道主义组织、希腊国家医疗系统和欧洲多国倡议之间在共享孕产妇护理方面形成了复杂的合作关系。我们的目的是了解医疗服务提供者所认为的在希腊难民营提供孕产妇护理服务面临的挑战。
2017年5月，在五个难民营对为怀孕难民提供服务的医疗服务提供者进行了一项包括观察和半结构化访谈的定性研究。访谈内容进行了转录，并采用主题编码进行分析。
对21名医疗服务提供者进行了访谈，并对五个难民营的服务进行了观察研究并记录了实地笔记。医疗服务提供者称，跨文化沟通困难是照顾怀孕难民妇女面临的最大挑战。仅提供女性安全空间的有限性也被视为一个障碍。最后，不堪重负的希腊公共卫生系统限制了他们提供护理的能力。
我们的研究支持了其他文献的观点，即沟通困难和不堪重负的希腊医疗系统是希腊怀孕难民面临的重大医疗保健障碍。关于“安全空间”作用的研究文献有限，需要进一步研究。为难民提供孕产妇护理的利益相关者在试图为这一人群提供护理时应着手解决这些关键问题。
