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Immigrants’ Experience of Health Care Access in Canada: A Recent Scoping Review

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Abstract

Existing literature has reported inequities in access to Canadian health care services among immigrants. The aim of this scoping review was (a) to explore research regarding Canadian immigrants’ unique experiences in accessing healthcare, and (b) to provide suggestions for future research and programming considering the identified immigrant-specific service gaps in health care. We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Google Scholar, following the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework. The review’s findings suggest unmet health care access needs specific to immigrants in Canada, with the most common access barriers including communication, socioeconomic, and cultural barriers. The scoping review expands on the immigrant health care experiences and accessibility factors through a thematic analysis. Findings suggest that developing community-based programming, improving training for health care providers in culturally competent care, and policies that address the social determinants of health can improve health care accessibility among immigrants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge all the research team members, including Anwar Subhani, for his contribution to the literature search and review process. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with regard to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The author(s) received no financial support for this article’s research, authorship, and/or publication.

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  1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Queen’s University, 94 University Ave, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Pei-Ling Tsai

  2. School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University, 31 George St, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Setareh Ghahari

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Tsai, PL., Ghahari, S. Immigrants’ Experience of Health Care Access in Canada: A Recent Scoping Review. J Immigrant Minority Health 25, 712–727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01461-w

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