No abstract

Background: There is a growing recognition of the significance of the diasporic dimension of medical travel. Explanations of medical tourism are increasingly presented in a wider context of transnationalism, diaspora and migration. Yet diaspora and cross-border travellers rarely get through the broader narrative of medical travel. Objective: Our aim in this scoping review was to extend the current knowledge on the emerging subject of diasporic travels for medical purposes. Specifically, we reviewed the existing literature on what is known about the determinants and motivational factors of diasporic medical tourism; its geographic scope and its quantitative estimation. Methods: Using a scoping review methodology, we conducted the search in seven electronic databases. It resulted in 210 records retrieved. Ultimately, 28 research papers and 6 non-research papers (published between 2002 and 2019) met the following criteria: 1) focus on healthcare and health-related practices, 2) transnational perspective, 3) healthcare consumption in the country of origin (homeland) while being a resident of another country, 4) published in English. Results: The findings from our review highlighted the importance of diasporic medical patients who had been researched and analysed on four continents. Even though quantitative evidence has been scarce, the data analysed in the scoping review pointed to the existence of non-negligible level of diasporic medical tourism in Northern America, and in Europe. Various motivational factors were enumerated with their frequency of occurrence: medical culture (12), time availability ("by the way of being home") (9), communication (6), dissatisfaction with the current system (6), healthcare insurance status (5), quality of healthcare (5), second opinion (3), and value for money (3).

This study focuses on diasporic medical tourism (DMT), an offshoot of migration-led tourism. There has been growing recognition of the significance of a diasporic dimension of medical tourism worldwide, yet little is known about these travellers, especially quantitatively. This paper examines the antecedents and behavioural intention of the DMT by applying the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) among the Polish diaspora (n = 1,288), constituting one of the largest migrant populations in Europe. Structural Equation Modeling was applied, and the model explained 53% of the variance in behavioural intention (R²= .527, Q²= .392). All exogenous variables were statistically significant. The intention to undertake DMT was influenced by complex commercial and noncommercial motivational factors, mostly related to uncertainty avoidance and reliance on heuristics to overcome acculturative stress. “Committed” and “Contended” travellers accounted for 70%, indicating the significant potential of those “hidden” consumers. A profile of diasporic medical tourists was presented and compared to foreign medical tourists. This research explores practical implications and contributes to the research on diaspora tourism, medical tourism and the interrelation between tourism and migration, specifically in the European context, but also globally.