How Do Health Teams Perceive International Migrant Users of Primary Care?

Abstract

The following study aims to describe the perception of international migrants who use the primary level of care by health personnel and to explore how this perception can affect the care process in the commune of Antofagasta, north of Chile. Methodology: The methodology was qualitative using a phenomenological descriptive design, through which the discourses of the health personnel of three primary health care centers (n = 14) were explored. Results: The participants presented two thematic categories. The first one related to experiences during delivery of care to migrants and included perceptions and beliefs, factors associated with using services, and reasons for consultation. The second category related to stereotypes towards migrants, including prejudices, beliefs about their lives and reasons for migration. Conclusions: The therapeutic relationship with migrants in primary care depends on the health care personnel’s acceptability of this population, hence, allowing the delivery of care based on respect for their culture and rights.

Experiences of Providers and Immigrants/Refugees with Health Care: A Meta-Synthesis of the Latin American Context

“…It is often the case that professionals believe they have the moral property of judging the patient for having passed through a border crossing (EP7) (Cruz-Riveros et al, 2022).…”

“…Providers and immigrants/refugees recognize that there are potential conflictual factors that may reflect on their interaction during care provision. Among these factors are the difficulty in communicating due to the language barrier (Aizenberg, 2019;Barbosa et al, 2020;Barreto et al, 2019;Carneiro-Junior et al, 2018;Cruz-Riveros et al, 2022;Delamuta et al, 2020;Losco & Gemma, 2021;Motizuki et al, 2019;Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019), the prejudice/xenophobia present in the actions of providers (Aizenberg, 2019;Aizenberg et al, 2015;Barreto et al, 2019;Delamuta et al, 2020;Dressel et al, 2020;Duden & Martins-Borges, 2021;Haydu et al, 2020;Losco & Gemma, 2021;Rubio et al, 2021;Shedlin et al, 2014), the difficulty in recognizing the other's culture (Aizenberg, 2019;Aizenberg et al, 2015;Barreto et al, 2019;Carneiro-Junior et al, 2018;Losco & Gemma, 2021;Motizuki et al, 2019;Pinto et al, 2019), and the differences in health/disease perceptions that exist among different countries (Carneiro-Junior et al, 2018). Furthermore, some providers perceive immigrants/refugees as a "burden for the health system" and as an "epidemiological problem" for the host country (Concha & Mansilla, 2017), and their presence can "saturate health services" due to high demand (Dressel et al, 2020;Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019).…”