From Immigrant to Patient: Experiences of Bosnian Immigrants in the Swedish Healthcare System

Abstract

Background: We aimed to explore the background of refugees emigrating to Sweden and their situation in the new country with special focus on their contacts with the Swedish healthcare system. Material and methods: Our study has a qualitative design. Data was collected between January and October 2013 during face-to-face interviews using open-ended questions. A qualitative content analysis was carried out in accordance with the Graneheim and Lundman method (2004). The participants were 8 women and 7 men, aged between 65 and 86 years who had emigrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina. They had lived in Sweden between 13 and 21 years. Results: The findings revealed that the participants themselves experienced that change of scenery, culture and language influenced their own well-being. The most important finding was that language and communication difficulties are experienced as the major problems. These difficulties implied that all informants were forced to seek help from their children or to use an interpreter when they visited various healthcare institutions. Conclusions: Health care professionals need to be aware of the diverse needs of various ethnic groups in Sweden, some of whom may carry traumatic experiences that could influence their health. In order to provide trans cultural care, a professional staff needs to know that historical, political and socioeconomic factors may influence ethnic minorities. Health care staff needs to recognize that social problems might be medicalized. In particular this article emphasizes the problems associated with language.

Cultural Competence for Health Professionals : Instrument Development

“…Language barriers in relation to patients hinder the provision of therapy and possibly affect compliance with treatment (Grandpierre et al, 2018). When immigrant patients in Sweden experience problems with communication and language, they require help from relatives or interpreters when visiting healthcare establishments (Seffo, Krupic, Grbic & Fatahi, 2014). The provision of relevant interpreters must be supported by the organisations (Balcazar et al, 2009) and be suitable in terms of minority languages and gender, for example (Hultsjö, 2005).…”

Organizing Language Interpreting Services in Elderly and Emergency Healthcare

“…Finding the best quality of communication using an interpreter is important to reduce miscommunication since language barriers are central risk factors in relation to healthcare for migrants (Hampers et al 1999;Bischoff 2003;Ramirez et al 2008;Bauer & Alegria 2010;Seffo et al 2014;Ventriglio et al 2014;Njeru et al 2015). Good quality of communication is very central to the health of migrated people (Leininger & McFarland 2006), since migration and integration can lead to positive or negative consequences for the health of the individual (Albin et al 2005;Wallace & Kulu 2014;Syse et al 2016).…”

“…Misunderstandings because of limited communication are an increasing hindrance to accessing healthcare (Bischoff 2003), and language barriers have shown to be a risk factor concerning migrant people's health and are mentioned by migrant patients as the major problem in contact with healthcare (Seffo et al 2014). Earlier studies in somatic emergency healthcare have shown how language barriers increase risk of misdiagnosis (Hampers et al 1999), lead to limited access to diagnoses, diagnostic testing and treatment (Ramirez et al 2008;Ventriglio et al 2014;) as well as longer stay for the patients at the emergency department (Mahmoud et al 2013;Njeru et al 2015).…”

Women, Migrations and Health

“…My history, my life is stamped into my heart. ' (Fang, Sixsmith, Lawthom, Mountian, & Shahrin, 2015) In effect these personal factors determine a person's overall life context (Biswas, Kristiansen, Krasnik, & Norredam, 2011;Krupic, Sadic, & Fatahi, 2016;Seffo, Krupic, Grbic, & Fatahi, 2014).…”