1. Older Immigrants' Access to Primary Health Care in Canada: A Scoping Review.
- Author
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Wang L, Guruge S, and Montana G
- Subjects
- Aged, Canada, Early Detection of Cancer, Health Promotion, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Mental Health Services, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Emigrants and Immigrants, Health Services Accessibility, Primary Health Care
- Abstract
ABSTRACTAging and immigration have significantly shaped the population composition in Canada, where immigrants make up increasingly large proportions of the older adult population. This scoping review examines the existing knowledge surrounding older immigrants' access to, and utilization of, primary care physicians, who play a pivotal role in the delivery of primary care, preventive care, and mental health care. We applied Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework to search databases for Canadian-based, peer-reviewed English-language articles on the topic and examined 31 articles in detail. Three focus areas emerged: access and utilization of primary care, health promotion and cancer screening, and utilization of mental health services. Older immigrants face intertwining access barriers related to health literacy, language, culture, health beliefs, spatial inequality, and structural circumstances. The review provides a thorough understanding of the status of access to care among older immigrants in Canada, and yields policy implications to address their unmet health needs.
- Published
- 2019
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