Ethnicity and utilization of family physicians: A case study of Mainland Chinese immigrants in Toronto, Canada

Living with Cancer: The Experiences of Chinese Canadian Cancer Survivors

“…The reasons for miscommunication in our study might be due to the language barrier, patients' fear of authority figures, and doctors' burden of work (Ha & Longnecker, 2010;Wang et al, 2008). A Canadian study with Chinese immigrants done by Wang et al (2008) mentioned that the family physicians of 96% of the participants in their study were of Chinese ethnic origin. However, it is not that easy to match a cancer specialist due to the scarcity of Chinese-speaking specialists or geographic location of hospitals.…”

“…Furthermore, some of the translators were not as qualified as expected. In addition, traditionally, Chinese people act as passive recipients and rely on their physicians to make decision for them and they would not challenge the authority of experts (Wang et al, 2008). It is even harder for patients to challenge the specialist's decision given their limited knowledge of either of Canada's official languages, English and French.…”

“…Two possible explanations may explain their dissatisfaction with] physicians. Firstly, some of the physicians may have depended too much on advanced diagnostic techniques and lacked necessary clinical experience to identify patients' problem (Wang et al, 2008). Secondly, the nature of medical education as well as internship and residency training may make physicians tend to lose their focus on holistic patient care and suppress empathy (Clark et al, 2004;Ha & Longnecker, 2010).…”

“…Cancer patients face profound physical, psychosocial, and financial challenges in their life (Ching, Martinson & Wong, 2009;Gao, Bennett, Stark, Murray & Higginson, 2010). Recent cancer studies have shown that many socio-cultural factors impact the outcomes of cancer treatment among minority populations, such as access to health services, lack of knowledge, mistrust, fear, lack of cultural sensitive interventions (Wang, Rosenberg & Lo, 2008), low health literacy, and patient-provider miscommunication (Clack, Allen, Cooper, & Head, 2004;Ha & Longnecker, 2010;Tongue, Epps, & Forese, 2005). Clack et al (2004) suggested adopting a more patient-centered service, which can facilitate a good doctor-patient relationship and result in better patient satisfaction as well as doctor satisfaction.…”

“…Most Chinese Canadians are foreign-born, and thus, may have limited social networks. The language obstacle, cultural adaptations, and the Eastern view of health beliefs and practices may act as barriers to both access to and utilization of, services (Kwok & White, 2011;Wang et al, 2008). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the experience of Chinese immigrants in Canada who are survivors of breast cancer and their informational and psychosocial needs.…”