Ignorance is not bliss: The effect of systematic information on immigrants’ knowledge of and satisfaction with the Danish healthcare system

Abstract

Knowledge of the healthcare system is necessary for optimal healthcare-seeking behaviour. The results may form the basis of national and international changes in immigrant reception and optimise immigrants' contact with the healthcare system.

Know where to go: evidence from a controlled trial of a healthcare system information intervention among immigrants

“…Healthcare education or written information had no measurable effect on participants’ actual healthcare use; both intervention groups and the control group made a somewhat similar decreased use of GPs, ERs, specialist doctors, hospital and outpatient hospital visits in the year after the intervention, except for use of dental care which remained stable across the groups. Findings from this study indicate that increased knowledge of access to the healthcare system [ 4 ] has only limited or no effect on healthcare-seeking behaviour, and actual healthcare use was not shown to be affected during the following year. A key message from this study is, therefore, that we have shown that it is possible to make interventions that modify some kinds of hypothetical healthcare-seeking behavior.…”

“…Of the 1572 participants, 528 were lost to follow-up mainly due to longer school absence or leave at the time of the follow-up survey, and only an insignificant number (four persons at the intervention school in 2012) did not want to participate. The follow-up study population comprised 1039 persons and represented a response rate of 66.4% (a detailed description of follow-up study population can be found in [ 4 ]). The response rate in the Intervention Groups (69.2%) was slighter higher than in the Control Group (61.9%).…”

“…The questionnaire consisted of 14 overall items on type of residence permit, self-assessed and fact-based knowledge of the Danish healthcare system, case vignettes on healthcare-seeking behaviour, satisfaction with the Danish healthcare system and the participants’ perception/culture, including use of healthcare in home country. The results for knowledge and satisfaction have been reported elsewhere [ 4 ].…”

“…An explorative qualitative process evaluation elucidated how the participants’ understanding of health and their risks perception overruled the normative information they learned on the healthcare education course [ 3 ]. Nevertheless, we found that healthcare education improved knowledge of the Danish healthcare system in terms of who to contact in the event of an accident but not in the event of illness and further, it positively affected correct answers for 9 out of 11 true or false questions on access to and use of the healthcare system [ 4 ]. The next step is to investigate whether improved knowledge leads to more optimal healthcare-seeking behaviour and healthcare utilisation.…”

Learners’ experience and perceived impact of a health literacy program in adult basic education: a qualitative study

“…2 Incorporating health literacy in adult basic education curricula offers a promising method of building health literacy capacity within the community by leveraging existing infrastructure and resources. [3][4][5] The importance of doing so is reinforced by the high prevalence of low health literacy in developed countries (e.g. 60% of the adult Australian population 6 ), the disproportionate impact on culturally and linguistically diverse groups 6 , and the fact that lower health literacy is an independent predictor of poorer health outcomes.…”