Ethnic minorities’ and immigrants’ therapeutic (non)adherence: What is the role of social and cultural contexts?

Immigrants and ethnic minorities have been identified as vulnerable groups in health, in general, and in what concerns therapeutic non-adherence (TA) in particular; i.e., (not)following health-care providers’ therapeutic recommendations. The general aim of this paper is presenting a literature revie...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mourão,Susana Sofia Monteiro (author)
Other Authors: Bernardes,Sónia Gomes da Costa Figueira (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0870-82312014000300007
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:scielo:S0870-82312014000300007
Description
Summary:Immigrants and ethnic minorities have been identified as vulnerable groups in health, in general, and in what concerns therapeutic non-adherence (TA) in particular; i.e., (not)following health-care providers’ therapeutic recommendations. The general aim of this paper is presenting a literature review of immigrants’/ethnic minorities’ TA determinants. We will start by highlighting the reasons as to why immigrants’/ethnic minorities’ therapeutic (non)adherence should be a topic of concern. Then, we will present a review of the main determinants of immigrants’/ethnic minorities’TA, at different levels of analysis (e.g., broad structural level; social and community networks; material and social conditions) and emphasize that non-adherence among immigrants/ethnic minorities is mostly non-intentional, seeing as how it is associated with issues such as: low socio-economic conditions, language barriers and cultural mismatches. Finally, we will highlight the role of health-care providers in tackling this health-related problem and reflect about the importance of promoting development and training of health-care providers’ multicultural abilities.