Transcript Health Literacy in Vancouver`s Latin American Communities:

Health Literacy within
the Reality of
Newcomers' Culture
and Language
Iraj Poureslami
Centre for Population Health Promotion
Research (CPHPR), UBC
What do we know now?

Health status of newcomers and minority
groups in BC and Canada

The link between culture and language and
health status

Health literacy and its link to health status

Factors influencing health and health literacy
in newcomer communities in BC
Newcomers in Canada & BC
Canada

250,000 new immigrants/year are
admitted
 ~ 25% is 15 years or younger
British
Columbia

Health status
upon arrival

Immigrants might be highly educated in
home country
 > 25% of immigrants communicates with a
language other than English or French
 Immigrants may be considered illiterate
and suffer negative impacts
78% of immigrants rated their health
status as excellent/very good upon arrival
Health status after  Health status –psychological healthliving in Canada
drops sharply after living in Canada (up to
10 years)
Newcomers’ health status: The role of
culture & language
 Under-use of preventive health screening
 Under-diagnosis and poor treatment of
health problems; mainly due to:
 Linguistic
and cultural isolation (cultural and
institutional issues)
 Lack of knowledge about and experience with
the new healthcare system in Canada
 Attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and practices in
regard to health and illness
 Institutional issue: Cultural competent system
Culture as an intervening factor in Health

Cultural differences can and do present
major barriers to access and utilization of
health care services. This is especially true
when health care practitioners
communicate with their patients of different
culture, beliefs and language. These
differences may affect their assessment,
intervention, treatment, and evaluations.
Culture and health outcome
 Strong
evidence suggests an
association between cultural diversity
and health outcome. For instance,
newcomers and minority groups are
among the poorest in terms of access
to and utilization of health care
services in Canada.
Culture, health literacy, health
status
 Health
 Many
Literacy (BC team definition)
newcomers to Canada have
health literacy-related problems, due to
their lack of knowledge of either
official languages, cultural beliefs,
and institutional/system factors
Newcomers health and wellbeing in Canada


There are many barriers for newcomers in terms
of accessing and navigating healthcare system
and even quality health information.
The ability of newcomers to access health care
services and to navigate the health care system
varies widely, depending on immigration status,
literacy level, health literacy skills, country of
origin and institutional discrimination.
What we’ve found in our previous studies
1.
2.
3.
Language, culture, and lack of information
are the three major factors that prevent
individuals in many ethnocultural
communities in BC from accessing care
services
There is a significant gap in current
knowledge, namely the socio-cultural and
economic factors influencing health and
well-being of newcomer communities in BC
There is a critical need to develop a
communication Model to reach people from
cultural communities
Suggestions made by key-informants & community
members re appropriate communication model
Family and community needs, priorities,
and challenges must be addressed
 Involvement of community members in
program planning, development, and
delivery


Use cultural relevant materials (e.g., print
health information and video clips
developed in the community language and
presented by well-known and most trusted
individuals from the community)
Where did we go from here?
•
Used participatory developed and
culturally-appropriate health information
materials in the community language for
diverse cultural groups in GVA
•
Involved healthcare professionals from the
community in all stages of our studies to
improve communication with newcomers
•
Created knowledge exchange and
capacity building opportunities for
Newcomers: Cross-cultural approach
Thank you
Dr. Iraj Poureslami, PhD
Centre for Population Health Promotion
Research (CPHPR), UBC
(604) 827-5550
[email protected]