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Challenges in the Provision of Sexual and Reproductive Health Care to Refugee and Migrant Women: A Q Methodological Study of Health Professional Perspectives

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Abstract

This Q methodological study was conducted to examine the perspectives of health professionals in providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care to refugee and migrant women. Forty-seven health professionals rank-ordered 42 statements and commented on their rankings in subsequent open-ended questions. A bi-person factor analysis was performed and factors were extracted according to the centroid method with a varimax rotation. Seven factors each with a distinct and meaningful viewpoint were identified. These factors are: “Communication difficulties—hurdles to counselling”, “Lack of access to culturally appropriate care”, “Navigating SRH care”, “Cultural constraints on effective communication”, “Effects of the lack of cultural competency”, “Impacts of low income and language barrier” and “SRH services are accessible, but not culturally relevant”. A more culturally adaptive healthcare model that considers refugee and migrant women’s linguistic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds; and engages health professionals on an ongoing process of building cultural competency is central to improve SRH access to these women.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Family Planning NSW and the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health who assisted in the recruitment of participants, and the health professionals who provided their time and voices to this project.

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This research has not received any funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2751, Australia

    Zelalem B. Mengesha, Janette Perz, Tinashe Dune & Jane Ussher

  2. School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2751, Australia

    Tinashe Dune

Authors
  1. Zelalem B. Mengesha
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  2. Janette Perz
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  3. Tinashe Dune
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  4. Jane Ussher
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Correspondence to Zelalem B. Mengesha.

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All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was received from the Human Research Ethics Committee of Western Sydney University with approval number H11034.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mengesha, Z.B., Perz, J., Dune, T. et al. Challenges in the Provision of Sexual and Reproductive Health Care to Refugee and Migrant Women: A Q Methodological Study of Health Professional Perspectives. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 307–316 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0611-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0611-7

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