Health service behaviors of migrants: A conceptual framework

Abstract

Universal health coverage is vital to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) efforts to ensure access to health as a human right. However, it has been reported that migrants, including both international immigrants and internal migrants, underuse health services. Establishing a conceptual framework to facilitate research on the health service behaviors (HSB) of migrants is particularly important. Many theoretical frameworks explaining the general population’s HSB have been published; however, most theoretical frameworks on migrants’ HSB only focus on international immigrants without the inclusion of internal migrants. Of note, internal migrants are much more abundant than immigrants, and this group faces similar barriers to HSB as immigrants do. Based on theoretical frameworks of immigrants’ HSB and Anderson’s behavior model, the author proposes a new conceptual framework of migrants’ HSB that includes both immigrants and internal migrants. The new conceptual framework divides the determinants into macro-structural or contextual factors, health delivery system characteristics, and characteristics of the population at risk and describes subgroup-specific factors. The author added some variables and reclassified variables in some dimensions, including characteristics of health delivery systems and access to healthcare. The characteristics of health delivery systems comprise the volume, organization, quality, and cost of the health delivery system, while the characteristics of access to healthcare include time accessibility, geographic accessibility, and information accessibility. The outcomes of HSB have been expanded, and relationships between them have been reported. The mediating effects of some variables have also been described. This conceptual framework can facilitate a deep and comprehensive understanding of the HSB determination process for migrants, including internal migrants.