Determinants of health care utilization by immigrants in Portugal

Abstract

Background: The increasing diversity of population in European Countries poses new challenges to national health systems. There is a lack of data on accessibility and use of health care services by migrants, appropriateness of the care provided, client satisfaction and problems experienced when confronting the health care system. This limits knowledge about the multiple determinants of the utilization of health services. The aim of this study was to describe the access of migrants to health care and its determinants in Portugal.

Immigrant women’s perceptions and experiences of health care services: Insights from a focus group study

“…Some authors refer that women's perspectives on the delivered health care and the degree of satisfaction with the health system are strongly influenced by their expectations of care and previous experiences in the country of origin (Gurman and Becker 2008;Sofaer and Firminger 2005). Therefore, it is possible to admit that among participants, those from countries that lack health care structures may perceive health care services in Portugal as of higher quality while others from countries with a more efficient health system may perceive those services as less competent, like previous studies suggest (Dias et al 2008;Gurman and Becker 2008).…”

“…It is important to assess women's perceptions and perceived needs concerning health care to better understand the challenges they face in accessing and using health care services. Research on access and utilization of health care services of immigrants has based mainly on quantitative data (Dias et al 2008;Marshall et al 2005;Stronks et al 2001); lack of information on women's perspectives on these issues remains.…”

“…Recent data indicates that the proportion of women migrating to Europe has growing and becoming higher than men (United Nations 2005). In Portugal, the official data indicate that among immigrants -6.1% of the total population -45% is female (SEF 2008 (Dias et al 2008;Fennelly 2004). Although this applies to both men and women, analysis from a gender perspective highlights that immigrant women are more likely to be in socially disadvantaged situations as poverty, social exclusion, irregular administrative situation and poor social and labour protection, rendering them more vulnerable (Llácer et al 2007;Pécoud and Guchteneire 2004).…”

“…Despite of the efforts undertaken, the available data indicate that migrants residing in Portugal still face difficulties in accessing and utilizing health services (Gonçalves et al 2003;Machado et al 2006). A recent study on health care utilization among immigrants in Portugal showed that 17.5% of female participants have never used health services (Dias et al 2008). …”

Blended Clustering for Health Data Mining

“…The results showed that people born outside Spain use EHS differently and more frequently than native born people in Spain. In Portugal an investigation of hospital utilization [5] collected data for 1,513 migrants. This work showed that age, length of stay, legal status and economic situation were interrelated in health services usage.…”