Health literacy among members of the Nepalese immigrant population in Canada

Abstract

Background: Health literacy is an important public health concern and can be defined as ‘the degree or extent to which the individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions’. Research on health literacy among recent immigrants to Canada is not that extensive. Objective: The purpose of this paper was to describe health literacy status among Nepalese immigrants residing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Methods: In 2019, a cross-sectional study, using a self-administered questionnaire, was conducted among Nepalese immigrants in Calgary. The questionnaire comprised 38 questions including sociodemographic information, self-rated health status, having a chronic disease or not, health literacy, sources of health information and preference to gain health information. Results: We received 401 responses: 49.63% were from women, 51.37% were aged 36–55 years, 37.00% had graduate-level education, 44.96% had immigrated to Canada less than 5 years ago and 81.05% were employed full-time/part-time or self-employed. Findings revealed that 17.21% of survey participants had limited health literacy, followed by 40.15% who had marginal health literacy. The majority of the survey participants (71.82%) either always or often got health information from healthcare professionals, followed by online resources (56.61%). Conclusion: Noteworthy levels of limited health literacy and marginal health literacy were observed among the Nepalese immigrant population. Multidirectional, culturally tailored, community-led, collaborative initiatives are needed to improve health literacy among the immigrant population, to lessen health disparities and to promote better health outcomes.

Unmet Primary Health Care Needs among Nepalese Immigrant Population in Canada

“…Interestingly, our study revealed that of those who reported UHC needs, most of them (96.79%) also reported that they had a family doctor. A possible reason could be that the unmet needs arise from the difference between the expectation of certain services and approaches from the family doctor and the services and approach received (i.e., too busy, perceived negligence, limited health literacy, cultural and language barriers) [12,23,29,30]. Accordingly, another reason could be due to the below-average physician and population ratios in Canada compared to other developed countries [31].…”