Giving voice to the voiceless: how to involve vulnerable migrants in healthcare research

Muijsenbergh, Maria van den; Teunissen, Erik; Weel‐Baumgarten, Evelyn van; Weel, Chris van

doi:10.3399/bjgp16x685321

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consequently, there is a reliance on informal strategies rather than the use of professional trained interpreters by appropriately trained healthcare providers: this knowledge-practice gap is under researched [ 15 – 18 ]. Raising the voices of marginalised communities is recognised as a key lever for effective intervention design, implementation and evaluation in primary care [ 19 , 20 ]. Many national health policies are explicit about the value of community participation for practice improvement in primary care [ 21 – 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing guidelines and training initiatives to improve cross-cultural communication in primary care consultations: a qualitative participatory European study

Teunissen

Gravenhorst

Dowrick

et al. 2017

Int J Equity Health

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundCross-cultural communication in primary care is often difficult, leading to unsatisfactory, substandard care. Supportive evidence-based guidelines and training initiatives (G/TIs) exist to enhance cross cultural communication but their use in practice is sporadic. The objective of this paper is to elucidate how migrants and other stakeholders can adapt, introduce and evaluate such G/TIs in daily clinical practice.MethodsWe undertook linked qualitative case studies to implement G/TIs focused on enhancing cross cultural communication in primary care, in five European countries. We combined Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) as an analytical framework, with Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) as the research method to engage migrants, primary healthcare providers and other stakeholders. Across all five sites, 66 stakeholders participated in 62 PLA-style focus groups over a 19 month period, and took part in activities to adapt, introduce, and evaluate the G/TIs. Data, including transcripts of group meetings and researchers’ fieldwork reports, were coded and thematically analysed by each team using NPT.ResultsIn all settings, engaging migrants and other stakeholders was challenging but feasible. Stakeholders made significant adaptations to the G/TIs to fit their local context, for example, changing the focus of a G/TI from palliative care to mental health; or altering the target audience from General Practitioners (GPs) to the wider multidisciplinary team. They also progressed plans to deliver them in routine practice, for example liaising with GP practices regarding timing and location of training sessions and to evaluate their impact. All stakeholders reported benefits of the implemented G/TIs in daily practice. Training primary care teams (clinicians and administrators) resulted in a more tolerant attitude and more effective communication, with better focus on migrants’ needs. Implementation of interpreter services was difficult mainly because of financial and other resource constraints. However, when used, migrants were more likely to trust the GP’s diagnoses and GPs reported a clearer understanding of migrants’ symptoms.ConclusionsMigrants, primary care providers and other key stakeholders can work effectively together to adapt and implement G/TIs to improve communication in cross-cultural consultations, and enhance understanding and trust between GPs and migrant patients.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing guidelines and training initiatives to improve cross-cultural communication in primary care consultations: a qualitative participatory European study

Teunissen

Gravenhorst

Dowrick

et al. 2017

Int J Equity Health

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A strength of this study was the heterogeneity of the study population; we were able to recruit women of different ages, country of origin and living circumstances. Furthermore, given the difficulties in recruiting undocumented immigrants for research in general [ 37 ], it is considered a strength of this study that we succeeded in recruiting 21 women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“No Papers. No Doctor”: A Qualitative Study of Access to Maternity Care Services for Undocumented Immigrant Women in Denmark

Funge

Boye

Johnsen

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this study is to explore undocumented immigrant women’s experiences of, as well as their access to, maternity care services during pregnancy in Denmark. Recruiting through the two branches of a non-governmental organization (NGO)-driven health clinic in Denmark, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with undocumented immigrant women in Denmark from January 2018 to January 2019. The undocumented immigrant women experienced barriers such as fear of deportation, concerns about payment for services, and uncertainties about rules for access. Many of them described depending on NGO-driven initiatives to access maternity care services and found these as providing a safe environment for care. Our findings contribute insights towards understanding the health behavior of undocumented immigrant women and highlight the need for inclusive care to safeguard the health of the women and their children.

show abstract

“…Another strength is the fact we employed bilingual, trained interviewers. This facilitated the inclusion of first generation ethnic minority patients; a group generally hard to reach in research due to language barriers, illiteracy, and mistrust of research 35 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Views and experiences of ethnic minority diabetes patients on dietetic care in the Netherlands – a qualitative study

Jager

Sande

Essink‐Bot³

et al. 2018

European Journal of Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Giving voice to the voiceless: how to involve vulnerable migrants in healthcare research

Cited by 27 publications

References 11 publications

Implementing guidelines and training initiatives to improve cross-cultural communication in primary care consultations: a qualitative participatory European study

Implementing guidelines and training initiatives to improve cross-cultural communication in primary care consultations: a qualitative participatory European study

“No Papers. No Doctor”: A Qualitative Study of Access to Maternity Care Services for Undocumented Immigrant Women in Denmark

Views and experiences of ethnic minority diabetes patients on dietetic care in the Netherlands – a qualitative study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About