Jia Haowen
School of Economics, Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai, Shandong, China.
Public Health. 2025 Mar;240:148-153. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2025.01.037. Epub 2025 Feb 4.
This study examines how language barriers impact healthcare access and education for Chinese migrants with chronic diseases, focusing on linguistic challenges unique to internal migration. By addressing regional dialect diversity within a single nation, it broadens the scope of language barrier studies and contributes to understanding how linguistic inequalities shape healthcare access, offering insights for multilingual societies worldwide.
Cross-sectional analysis using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey.
The primary analysis uses a probit model to assess the impact of language barriers on healthcare access. Logit and OLS models are also employed for robustness checks, ensuring consistency across different methodologies. Additionally, a placebo test is conducted to confirm that the observed effects are not due to random variation, validating the robustness of the findings.
The findings reveal that increasing language barriers significantly decrease the likelihood of migrants accessing health services and participating in health education programs. The impact is particularly pronounced among male, less-educated, and older migrants. Mechanisms contributing to these outcomes include heightened social exclusion, perceived differences in hygiene practices, and reduced awareness of health policies. These findings align with international evidence, demonstrating that language barriers universally hinder healthcare access for migrant populations in diverse linguistic contexts.
Language barriers hinder healthcare access for migrants with chronic diseases. By addressing linguistic challenges in internal migration, this study expands language barrier research and highlights the need for multilingual services and culturally tailored policies to improve health equity in diverse societies.
本研究考察语言障碍如何影响患有慢性病的中国移民获得医疗服务和接受健康教育的情况，重点关注国内移民特有的语言挑战。通过解决单一国家内的地区方言多样性问题，拓宽了语言障碍研究的范围，有助于理解语言不平等如何影响医疗服务的可及性，为全球多语言社会提供见解。
使用2017年中国移民动态调查数据进行横断面分析。
主要分析采用概率单位模型评估语言障碍对获得医疗服务的影响。还使用逻辑回归和普通最小二乘法模型进行稳健性检验，确保不同方法之间的一致性。此外，进行安慰剂检验以确认观察到的效应不是由于随机变异导致的，从而验证研究结果的稳健性。
研究结果表明，语言障碍增加会显著降低移民获得医疗服务和参与健康教育项目的可能性。这种影响在男性、受教育程度较低和年龄较大的移民中尤为明显。导致这些结果的机制包括社会排斥加剧、卫生习惯认知差异以及对健康政策的认识降低。这些发现与国际证据一致，表明在不同语言背景下，语言障碍普遍阻碍移民获得医疗服务。
语言障碍阻碍了患有慢性病的移民获得医疗服务。通过解决国内移民中的语言挑战，本研究扩展了语言障碍研究，并强调了提供多语言服务和制定文化适应性政策以改善多元社会中健康公平性的必要性。
