Satisfaction of Vietnamese patients and their families with refugee and mainstream mental health services

Abstract

Specialized mental health services for refugees may be more acceptable to refugee populations than their mainstream counterparts, perhaps because better communication with patients and their families is possible in the specialized services. Patients and families who are in a position to evaluate services fully are more likely to be critical of treatments offered.

Patient satisfaction & use of health care: a cross-sectional study of asylum seekers in the Freiburg initial reception centre

“…Results for medical care outside the FIRC indicated that participants were slightly less satisfied with care; though in part this may be due to social desirability bias, it is also likely a result of more specialised and migrant-sensitive care offered in the FIRC. This result is similar to a United States (US) study on Vietnamese Refugees, whereby greater satisfaction was found with the specialised treatment unit for refugees, rather than regular services [ 16 ]. However, it must be noted that in Freiburg, outside care facilities are accessible to the patients by referral through the treating doctor in the ICF (except emergencies out of hours).…”

“…Outcomes indicate non-English speaking and female gender as possible determinants for lower satisfaction, highlighting the need for gender appropriate care and better communication. Despite being dissimilar to a US study on refugees where fluency of English was inversely associated with satisfaction [ 16 ], the relationship between language and satisfaction was not unexpected. Due to the language restrictions of the staff at the FIRC and without a permanent interpreter, language remains a barrier to non-English speaking patients.…”

“…An Australian study assessed patient satisfaction of an integrated healthcare service for AS&R, where high levels of satisfaction were reported, especially in relation to the availability of bicultural staff, translation services and the integration of care [ 14 ]. Two studies on refugees in the United States [ 15 , 16 ] reported overall satisfaction for health care, with one reporting lower satisfaction for phone translation and time with the doctor [ 15 ], while the second reported fluency of English and level of education inversely associated with satisfaction [ 16 ]. Despite evidence showing many barriers to health care access, low health literacy and differing levels of satisfaction, there is a significant gap in research relating to patient satisfaction amongst AS&R. This study aims to address this gap, by evaluating the health care services available to asylum seekers staying in an initial reception centre in Freiburg through a cross-sectional pilot study.…”

Satisfaction of trauma-affected refugees treated with antidepressants and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

“…Few studies have looked specifically at satisfaction amongst trauma-affected refugee patients in a Western treatment setting. An Australian study comparing satisfaction among refugees with general mental health services and specialised services for traumaaffected refugees found that there was an overall higher satisfaction with specialised services, but also that patients who were more fluent in English were less satisfied with treatment in either treatment setting (Silove et al, 1997). Another study has found that language is the most important barrier to treatment (Maier & Straub, 2011).…”

“…However, it is a challenge to ensure patient compliance with treatment (Shearing, Lee, & Clohessy, 2011) even in non-refugee patient samples (Schottenbauer, Glass, Arnkoff, Tendick, & Gray, 2008). Only a few studies have examined acceptability of these treatments amongst trauma-affected refugees and asylum seekers despite the challenge of applying psychotherapy to patients with diverse cultural backgrounds (Silove et al, 1997;Vincent, Jenkins, Larkin, & Clohessy, 2013). Two qualitative studies have examined the meaning of illness and expectations for treatment amongst trauma-affected refugees (Maier & Straub, 2011;Vincent et al, 2013), but no studies specifically investigate the patient satisfaction with TFCBT offered in a Western setting.…”