[Consensus process in the field of health inequalities. The Delphi technique].

OBJECTIVE

An approach to finding the determinants of the risk of health inequality among foreign immigrants living in the city of Barcelona.

DESIGN

A descriptive study done by interviewing a group of key informers, using the Delphi technique.

SETTING

Barcelona city Health Region.

PARTICIPANTS

20 professionals from different sectors and levels of care were selected because of the relationship of their work area to the immigrant population. Primary Care, specialist, hospital, Family Planning and Public Health professionals took part from the health field; Primary Care, planning and non-governmental organisations from the social field.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

A series of mailed questionnaires were used to elicit the participants' opinions and perceptions of the determinants of foreign immigrants' health inequalities. The final reply figure was 90%. Of the overall points granted to the agreed situations, 52.4% concerned aspects relating to their general living situation, 25.1% to health care and 22.4% to socio-cultural questions.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that, in addition to the health-care field, general living situation and socio-cultural questions play a fundamental part in determining foreign immigrants' health inequalities. We considered that the Delphi was a useful and rapid technique for obtaining qualitative information on the determinants of health inequalities and that it permitted us to contribute information which was complementary to other studies of inequalities which used classical health indicators.