Background
The
purpose of the health examination for asylum seekers in most countries is to
identify poor health in order to secure the well-being of seekers of asylum and
to guarantee the safety of the population in the host country. Functional
health literacy is an individual’s ability to read information and instructions
about health and to function effectively as a patient in the health system, and
comprehensive health literacy is an individual’s competence in accessing,
understanding, appraising and applying health information. Little is known
about refugees’ health literacy and their experiences of the health examination
for asylum seekers. The purposes of the study were to investigate refugees’
experiences of communication during their health examination for asylum seekers
and the usefulness of that examination, and whether health literacy is
associated with those experiences.
Methods
A
cross-sectional study was made among 360 adult refugees speaking Arabic, Dari,
Somali or English. Health literacy was measured using the Swedish Functional
Health Literacy Scale and the short European Health Literacy Questionnaire.
Experiences of communication and the usefulness of the health examination were
measured in several questions. Associations were sought using univariate and
multivariate statistical models.
Results
In
the health examination for asylum seekers, a poor quality of communication was
experienced by 36 %, receiving little information about health care by
55 %, and receiving little new knowledge by 41 % and/or help by
26 %. Having inadequate as compared to sufficient comprehensive health
literacy was associated with the experience of a poorer quality of
communication (OR: 9.64, CI 95 %: 3.25–28.58) and the experience of
receiving little valuable health care information (OR: 6.54, CI 95 %:
2.45–17.47). Furthermore, having inadequate as compared to sufficient
comprehensive health literacy was associated with the experience of not
receiving new knowledge (OR: 7.94, CI 95 %: 3.00–21.06) or receiving help
with health problems (OR: 8.07, 95 % CI: 2.50–26.07. Functional healthy
literacy was not associated with experiences of HEA.
Conclusion
Refugees’
experiences indicate that a low level of comprehensive health literacy can act
as a barrier to fulfilling the purposes of the health examination for asylum
seekers. Comprehensive health literacy seems to be of greater importance in
that context than functional health literacy.
Full article at: http://goo.gl/hs74c0
1Social Medicine, Department of Public
Health and Caring Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala Science Park, Uppsala,
751 22, Sweden
2Institution of Department of Neuroscience
and Physiology/Occupational Therapy, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, SE 405
30, Sweden
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