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Título: Oral health beliefs and dental health care-seeking behaviors among Chinese immigrants
Autores: Dong, Mei, 1966-
Fecha: 2006
Publicador: McGill University - MCGILL
Fuente:
Tipo: Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Tema: Health Sciences, Dentistry.
Health Sciences, Public Health.
Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Descripción: Understanding culturally related health values and identifying ethnically specific health seeking pathways can help health care providers supply culturally competent services and enhance cooperation with patients of different backgrounds. Cultural competency training, notably through cultural awareness courses, promotes understanding of the impact of social factors on illness and thus prepares medical and dental students to better serve their patients. Cultural awareness can also help preventive health programs fit community needs and cultural contexts.
Despite the fact that Chinese immigrants are the fastest growing ethnic minority in North America, few studies have been published on their beliefs and health-seeking behaviours following immigration. We thus lack information on how Chinese immigrants regard dental health and manage their dental problems. Objective. The aims of this study were to explore how oral illness is viewed by Chinese immigrants in Montreal, Canada and how they manage dental problems. Methods. We conducted a qualitative research study based on semi-structured, one-on-one interviews and thematic analyses of the transcribed interviews. Twelve adult Montreal Chinese immigrants with a high level of education participated in the study.
Results. Chinese immigrants in Montreal have a good understanding of dental caries in terms of its etiology, process, and ways to prevent and treat it. It thus seems that there is no major cultural barrier between this type of immigrant and oral health care professionals in regard to dental caries. However, we also observed that traditional beliefs and medications coexist with scientific dental knowledge and professional treatments concerning problems such as gingival swelling, gingival bleeding, and bad breath. In the case of gingival swelling, for instance, participants identified etiological factors that referred to both cultures: local factors referred to oral hygiene and were related to scientific culture, whereas general factors referred to traditional knowledge ("internal fire"). Chinese immigrants' dental health seeking pathways include self-treatment, consulting a dentist in Canada or in China during a return visit, and obtaining Chinese traditional medicine. The dental health seeking pathways varied depending on the circumstances. For dental caries and other acute diseases such as toothache, Chinese immigrants prefer to consult a dentist. For chronic diseases, some of them rely on self-treatment or an alter-native treatment such as traditional Chinese medicine. The language barrier, financial problems and lack of trust are the main factors affecting Chinese immigrants' access to dental care services in Canada. Former bad medical or dental experience among Chinese immigrants causes a loss of trust in Western medicine and dentistry and influences the decision to seek alternative treatments.
Conclusion. This study suggests that, in order to facilitate dentist-patient communication; oral health professionals should be informed of immigrants' representation of oral health and illness, and that Chinese immigrants should be provided with basic scientific knowledge.
Idioma: en