After going through the essential readings and the course lecture, I tried to think of my question using PEO question format, since it seems more suitable for qualitative research questions.

P	Population	Immigrants
E	Exposure	Inequities while accessing healthcare services
O	Outcome or themes	Improvement in access to healthcare services, improvement in perceived health and quality of life

I drafted this question for my project:

In Spain, with an increase in population stemming from immigrants, what are the reasons explaining the inequities between this population and native Spanish and what are the ways to improve healthcare access for immigrants?

The new RDL which came into force in July 2012 has excluded many immigrants from accessing the health care system. In fact, Individual Health Cards (IHC) are only given to those who are affiliated to the National Institute of Social Security (NISS) (Castano et al., 2016) thus people who are working with legal contracts, retirees and people receiving unemployment benefits. Some Autonomous Communities have continued providing access to healthcare to those without IHC but they are constrained by a luck of funding. (Rodríguez-Álvarez et al., 2017).

 

Ten years have passed now and there were no change or amendments of this RDL, which is one of the reasons why I have not thought of doing a policy brief, especially that government bureaucracies in Spain are known to be slow to change.

 

Recent studies have shown that immigrants who perceive experiences of discrimination were twice more likely to rate their health as poor (Rodríguez-Álvarez et al., 2017). Other studies have also demonstrated the problems perceived by healthcare professionals (HCPs) while providing care to immigrants such as own prejudices and attitudes.

 

My project´s aim is to find ways to improve access to healthcare for immigrants by understanding the challenges they are facing and the reasons behind these inequities, through immigrant´s but also HCPs´ lenses, being the main stakeholders here. If HCPs show more compassion, understand immigrants´ healthcare demands and learn techniques to overcome plausible cultural barriers and if immigrants have better understanding of their health needs and an appropriate use within the constraints of the RDL, access to healthcare services may be improved.

 

For this project, it is feasible to conduct literature search. My idea is also to do a qualitative study by conducting questionnaires and semi structured interviews with both HCPs and Immigrants. As I have never done this before (except one activity with my peer in the previous course), I am aware that it would be challenging and that I would need guidance from my supervisor. However, I live in a culturally diverse neighborhood with a healthcare center so I might be able to do it within the 9 months allowed. This project will not require funds and the fulfillment of the ethical approval must be considered as it will involve personal data.

 

Word Count : 468

 

References

Castano, J. et al. (2016) ‘Restricting Access to Health Care to Immigrants in Barcelona: A Mixed-Methods Study With Immigrants Who Have Experienced an Infectious Disease’, International Journal of Health Services, 46(2), pp. 241–261. doi:10.1177/0020731416637174.

Rodríguez-Álvarez, E. et al. (2017) ‘Perceived discrimination and self-rated health in the immigrant population of the Basque Country, Spain’, Gaceta Sanitaria, 31(5), pp. 390–395. doi:10.1016/j.gaceta.2016.12.014.

 

Feb 1, 2022