A metasynthesis of qualitative studies regarding opinions and perceptions about barriers and determinants of health services’ accessibility in economic migrants


Autoria(s): Agudelo Suárez, Andrés A.; Gil-González, Diana; Vives-Cases, Carmen; Love, John G.; Wimpenny, Peter; Ronda-Pérez, Elena
Contribuinte(s)

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Enfermería Comunitaria, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública e Historia de la Ciencia

Salud Pública

Data(s)

03/05/2013

03/05/2013

17/12/2012

Resumo

Background: Access to health services is an important health determinant. New research in health equity is required, especially amongst economic migrants from developing countries. Studies conducted on the use of health services by migrant populations highlight existing gaps in understanding which factors affect access to these services from a qualitative perspective. We aim to describe the views of the migrants regarding barriers and determinants of access to health services in the international literature (1997–2011). Methods: A systematic review was conducted for Qualitative research papers (English/Spanish) published in 13 electronic databases. A selection of articles that accomplished the inclusion criteria and a quality evaluation of the studies were carried out. The findings of the selected studies were synthesised by means of metasynthesis using different analysis categories according to Andersen’s conceptual framework of access and use of health services and by incorporating other emergent categories. Results: We located 3,025 titles, 36 studies achieved the inclusion criteria. After quality evaluation, 28 articles were definitively synthesised. 12 studies (46.2%) were carried out in the U.S and 11 studies (42.3%) dealt with primary care services. The participating population varied depending mainly on type of host country. Barriers were described, such as the lack of communication between health services providers and migrants, due to idiomatic difficulties and cultural differences. Other barriers were linked to the economic system, the health service characteristics and the legislation in each country. This situation has consequences for the lack of health control by migrants and their social vulnerability. Conclusions: Economic migrants faced individual and structural barriers to the health services in host countries, especially those with undocumented situation and those experimented idiomatic difficulties. Strategies to improve the structures of health systems and social policies are needed.

Carolina Foundation (Spain), Mario Benedetti Foundation of the University of Alicante, Regional Ministry of Education (Generalitat Valenciana) (BEST/2009/003). Healthcare Research Fund of the Spanish Ministry of Health and Social Policy (PI 0790470).

Identificador

AGUDELO-SUÁREZ, Andrés A., et al. “A metasynthesis of qualitative studies regarding opinions and perceptions about barriers and determinants of health services’ accessibility in economic migrants”. BMC Health Services Research 2012, 12:461. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-12-461

1472-6963

http://hdl.handle.net/10045/28099

10.1186/1472-6963-12-461

A6613766

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

BioMed Central

Relação

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-461

Direitos

© 2012 Agudelo-Suárez et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Palavras-Chave #Health care #Health services accessibility #Emigrants and immigrants #Systematic review #Qualitative research #Metasynthesis #Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública
Tipo

info:eu-repo/semantics/article