Communication and language challenges experienced by Chinese and South Asian immigrant parents of children with cancer in Canada: Implications for health services delivery

Abstract

Language ability played an essential role in parents' healthcare experiences for pragmatic and social purposes. Language challenges can heighten systemic and socio-cultural barriers to accessing health information and resources. The provision of enhanced culturally and linguistically sensitive services may support immigrant families in their caregiving role.

A Scoping Review of Immigrant Experience of Health Care Access Barriers in Canada

“…Conversely, studies of South Asian immigrant populations revealed no clear trends. One study [20] cited cultural differences as the most important barrier to accessing health care services among South Asian immigrants, while other studies listed lack of health literacy/ limited awareness of disorder [27,28], and language barriers [30,31] as most significant.…”

“…Other specific groups studied were Iranian [22], Vietnamese [23], Portuguese-speaking [24], Francophone [25], and Asian [26]. Among studies of Chinese and South Asian immigrant populations, four research topics emerged: South Asian women's access to cervical cancer screening and mammography [27,28], health care access barriers for Chinese and South Asian seniors [19,20,29], health care access experiences of Chinese and South Asian parents of children with cancer [30,31], and barriers to accessing family physicians experienced by Chinese immigrants [17].…”

“…Among these studies, language fluency inclusion criteria were limited to Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Cantonese, Mandarin, Filipino, Vietnamese, Farsi, or English [17,23,26,27,[29][30][31]. Thus, Asian ethnic minority groups may have been excluded from these studies.…”

Factors influencing intercultural doctor–patient communication: A realist review

“…[54] This was an important contextual issue, but often the doctors did not recognize it, as they were used to directing their communication at the individual patient rather than at the family (specific skill). [38,51,157] For patients, their illnesses were connected to their community context and family; relations, culture and values were inseparable. [39,57,64,89,156,[158][159][160][161] Here miscommunication (outcome) occurred because doctors and patients had different perceptions of the role of the family.…”

Brechas de desigualdad en salud en niños migrantes versus locales en Chile

“…De acuerdo a la evidencia internacional, la problemática de salud y uso de servicios sanitarios por parte de niños migrantes se resume en: (i) el acceso difícil y el desconocimiento del nuevo sistema de atención de la salud; (ii) las barreras del idioma; (iii) las diferencias en expectativas y necesidades percibidas por parte de este grupo; (iv) la divergencia en la capacidad de pago de los costos de atención de la salud; y (v) las diferencias culturales en las definiciones de enfermedad y los tratamientos esperados. Los pocos estudios disponibles en niños migrantes sugieren que las barreras idiomáticas 22 y las expectativas de los padres respecto del sistema de salud 6 son particularmente relevantes. Sobre este últi-mo punto, un estudio cualitativo de familias polacas en Escocia sugirió que las preocupaciones de los padres migrantes acerca de los servicios de salud son propensos a tener un impacto en sus creencias y comportamientos infantiles 23 .…”