Top

International Journal of Public Health

Published in:

01-12-2014 | Orginal Article

When to see a doctor for common health problems: distribution patterns of functional health literacy across migrant populations in Switzerland

Authors: Sabine Ackermann Rau, Sibel Sakarya, Thomas Abel

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 6/2014

Abstract

Background

Knowing when to seek professional help for health problems is considered an important aspect of health literacy. However, little is known about the distribution of help-seeking knowledge in the general population or specific subpopulations.

Methods

We analysed data from the “Health Monitoring of the Swiss Migrant Population 2010” and used a short survey tool to study the distribution of help-seeking knowledge. We sampled members of four migrant groups (from Portugal, Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo; n = 2,614). Our tool contained 12 items that addressed common physical and psychological health problems. A total sum score measured help-seeking knowledge. Two sub-scores analysed knowledge related to potential overuse (minor symptoms) or potential underuse (major symptoms). We applied linear regression to show variations in help-seeking knowledge by age, sex, region of origin and length of stay.

Results

Controlling for self-rated health, we found that region of origin, higher education, female gender and younger age were significantly associated with higher knowledge scores.

Conclusions

We present empirical evidence of unequal distribution of help-seeking knowledge across four migrant populations in Switzerland. Our findings contribute to current conceptual developments in health literacy, and provide starting points for future research.

Abel T (2008) Measuring health literacy: moving towards a health—promotion perspective. Int J Public Health 53:169–170PubMedCrossRef

Abel T, Hofmann K, Ackermann S, Bucher S, Sakarya S (2014) Health literacy among young adults: a short survey tool for public health and health promotion research. Health Promot Int. doi:10.1093/heapro/dat096 (First published online: January 30, 2014)PubMed

Andersen R, Anderson O, Smedby B (1968) Perception of and response to symptoms of illness in Sweden and the United States. Med Care VI(1):18–30CrossRef

Berkman ND, Sheridan SL, Donahue KE, Halpern DJ, Crotty K (2011) Low health literacy and health outcomes: an updated systematic review. Ann Intern Med 155(2):97–107PubMedCrossRef

Cha ES et al (2012) Understanding cultural issues in diabetes self-management behaviors of Korean immigrants. Diabetes Educ 38(6):835–844PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef

Cockerham WC, Lueschen G, Kunz G, Spaeth JL (1986) Social stratification and self-management of health. J Health Social Behav 27(1):1–14CrossRef

Cooper M, Harding S, Mullen K, O’Donnell C (2012) ‘A chronic disease is a disease which keeps coming back…it is like the flu’: chronic disease risk perception and explanatory models among French- and Swahili-speaking African migrants. Ethn Health 17(6):597–613PubMedCrossRef

Darviri C, Fouka G, Gnardellis C, Artemiadis AK, Tigani X, Alexopoulos EC (2012) Determinants of self-rated health in a representative sample of a rural population: a cross-sectional study in Greece. Int J Environ Res Public Health 9(3):943–954PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef

Dermota P, Wang J, Dey M, Gmel G, Studer J, Mohler-Kuo M (2013) Health literacy and substance use in young Swiss men. Int J Public Health 58:939–948PubMedCrossRef

Dunn-Navarra A-M, Stockwell MS, Meyer D, Larson E (2012) Parental health literacy, knowledge and beliefs regarding upper respiratory infections (URI) in an urban Latino immigrant population. J Urban Health 89(5):848–860PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef

Edwards JR, Bagozzi RP (2000) On the nature and direction of relationships between constructs and measures. Psychol Methods 5(2):155–174PubMedCrossRef

Fransen MP, Van Schaik TM, Twickler TB, Essink-Bot ML (2011) Applicability of internationally available health literacy measures in the Netherlands. J Health Commun 16(Suppl 3):134–149PubMedCrossRef

Guggisberg J et al (2011) Gesundheitsmonitoring der Migrationsbevölkerung in der Schweiz (Health monitoring of the migrant population in Switzerland). http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/gesundheitspolitik/07685/12533/12535/index.html?lang=de

Hetherington RW, Hopkins CE (1969) Symptom sensitivity: its social and cultural correlates. Health Serv Res 4(1):63–75PubMedCentralPubMed

Jones RA, Wiese HJ, Moore RW, Haley JV (1981) On the perceived meaning of symptoms. Med Care 19(7):710–717PubMedCrossRef

Jordan JE, Buchbinder R, Osborne RH (2010) Conceptualising health literacy from the patient perspective. Patient Educ Couns 79(1):36–42PubMedCrossRef

Kickbusch IS (2001) Health literacy: addressing the health and education divide. Health Promot Int 16(3):289–297PubMedCrossRef

Lamkaddem M, Essink-Bot ML, Devillé W, Foets M, Stronks K (2011) Perceived discrimination outside health care settings and health care utilization of Turkish and Moroccan GP patients in the Netherlands. Eur J Public Health 22(4):473–478PubMedCrossRef

Mansfield AK, Addis ME (2003) “Why won’t he go to the doctor?”: the psychology of men’s help seeking. Int J Men’s Health 2(2):93–109CrossRef

Moriarty D, Zack M, Kobau R (2003) The centers for disease control and prevention’s healthy days measures—population tracking of perceived physical and mental health over time. Health Qual Life Outcomes 1(1):37PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef

Ng E, Pottie K, Spitzer D (2011) Official language proficiency and self-reported health among immigrants to Canada. Health Rep 22(4):15–23PubMed

Nutbeam D (2000) Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promot Int 15(3):259–267CrossRef

Nutbeam D (2008) The evolving concept of health literacy. Soc Sci Med 67(12):2072–2078PubMedCrossRef

Omariba DW, Ng E (2011) Immigration, generation and self-rated health in Canada: on the role of health literacy. Can J Public Health 102(4):281–285PubMed

Peerson A, Saunders M (2009) Health literacy revisited: what do we mean and why does it matter? Health Promot Int 24(3):285–296PubMedCrossRef

Poureslami I, Rootman I, Doyle-Waters MM, Nimmon L, Fitzgerald JM (2011) Health literacy, language, and ethnicity-related factors in newcomer asthma patients to Canada: a qualitative study. J Immigr Minor Health 13(2):315–322PubMedCrossRef

Ratzan SC, Parker RM (2000) Introduction. In: Selden CR, Zorn M, Ratzan SC, Parker RM (eds) National library of medicine current bibliographies in medicine: health literacy. National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda

Schulz PJ, Nakamoto K (2005) Emerging themes in health literacy. Stud Commun Sci 5:1–10

Shaw SJ, Huebner C, Armin J, Orzech K, Vivian J (2009) The role of culture in health literacy and chronic disease screening and management. J Immigr Minor Health 11:460–467PubMedCrossRef

Smith PC, Brice JH, Lee J (2012) The relationship between functional health literacy and adherence to emergency department discharge instructions among Spanish-speaking patients. J Natl Med Assoc 104(11–12):521–527PubMed

Stoeckle JD, Zola IK, Davidson GE (1963) On going to see the doctor, the contributions of the patient to the decision to seek medical aid. A selective review. J Chronic Dis 16:975–989PubMedCrossRef

Tieu Y, Konnert C, Wang J (2010) Depression literacy among older Chinese immigrants in Canada: a comparison with a population-based survey. Int Psychogeriatr 22(8):1318–1326PubMedCrossRef

Todd L, Hoffman-Goetz L (2011) Predicting health literacy among English-as-a-second-language older Chinese immigrant women to Canada: comprehension of colon cancer prevention information. J Cancer Educ 26(2):326–332PubMedCrossRef

M.I.S. Trend SA (2011) Gesundheitsbefragung bei Personen mit Migrationshintergrund in der Schweiz (Health survey among people with migration background in Switzerland). Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialforschung

Turner BJ, Nido RM (1988) Urgency in seeking medical care for specific symptoms: perceptions of physicians and patients. J Gen Intern Med 3(3):245–249PubMedCrossRef

Uiters E, Deville WL, Foets M, Groenewegen PP (2006) Use of health care services by ethnic minorities in The Netherlands: do patterns differ? Eur J Public Health 16(4):388–393PubMedCrossRef

Title: When to see a doctor for common health problems: distribution patterns of functional health literacy across migrant populations in Switzerland
Authors: Sabine Ackermann Rau
Sibel Sakarya
Thomas Abel
Publication date: 01-12-2014
Publisher: Springer Basel
Published in: International Journal of Public Health / Issue 6/2014
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-014-0583-5

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

When to see a doctor for common health problems: distribution patterns of functional health literacy across migrant populations in Switzerland

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 6/2014

Maternal posttraumatic stress disorder symptom trajectories following Hurricane Katrina: An initial examination of the impact of maternal trajectories on the well-being of disaster-exposed youth

Status of the diabetes epidemic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2013

Effectiveness of a prevention campaign on HIV/AIDS knowledge among adolescents in Eastern Slovakia

Are effort–reward imbalance and social isolation mediating the association between education and depressiveness? Baseline findings from the lidA§-study

Hypertension: diagnosis, control status and its predictors in general population aged between 15 and 75 years: a community-based study in southeastern Iran

Differences in the social patterning of active travel between urban and rural populations: findings from a large UK household survey