Social determinants of health and access to healthcare services among refugees in Australia
Citation: Taylor J, Lamaro Haintz G. Influence of the social determinants of health on access to healthcare services among refugees in Australia. Australian Journal of Primary Health. 2018;24(1):14-28.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Nothing noted.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for peer-reviewed articles about social determinants that influenced a refugee’s access to healthcare services in Australia. They restricted their searches to articles published in English since 2006. The authors included 8 studies.
What was found: There were barriers to access healthcare at individual, interpersonal, environmental, organisational and policy levels. Barriers included language, personal beliefs and misconceptions, absence of culturally appropriate health information, lack of trust in healthcare providers, and low literacy.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that a multifaceted approach with all stakeholders was needed to address barriers to healthcare for refugees in Australia.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, race, ethnicity, culture, and language.
This summary was prepared by Joly Ghanawi, checked by Grace Meng, and finalized by William Summerskill.