Non-financial barriers to healthcare access and utilization

Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Healthcare

Of the many barriers to receiving and providing equal healthcare to all individuals, few are as complex and prevalent in modern society than the barriers presented by cultural differences. These barriers can be especially difficult to identify and combat due to their very nature. Cultural differences create different needs and, perhaps more importantly, different perceptions, which can lead to unforeseen problems and require seemingly unconventional solutions.

The different barriers to healthcare that arise due to cultural issues are as varied as the many cultures that exist. The barriers also work both ways. The provider's culture, combined with a lack of knowledge of a patient's culture, can lead to a misinterpretation of patient-reported symptoms, as well as a general miscommunication in the style and administration of care. The culture of potential patients can also inhibit them from seeking proper and available care. One report found that cultural differences among Southeast Asian refugees in the United States caused the immigrants not to seek out care because of cultural beliefs regarding the nature and causes of the disease, and certain stigmas associated with healthcare, especially Western methods (Uba, 1992).

In addition, many immigrants and other cultural pockets within our society might simply be unaware of the diversity and extent of services available to them (Uba, 1992). Under-use of healthcare services is believed to be the simple result of the unavailability of reliable non-folk healthcare in many of the regions of the world; attitudes and beliefs regarding the scarcity and suspicion of healthcare providers persist among many immigrant populations today, even amongst individuals born in this country (Uba, 1992). These represent some of the complex yet very concrete cultural barriers to healthcare that exist, but there are even more direct issues.

Cultural differences extend to language. In some instances, this merely necessitates "code-switching" -- the use of different words and speaking patters in different cultural settings (e.g. The difference between conversation at a business meeting and a baseball game, although with intercultural issues the impact of code-switching becomes far more profound). On a less esoteric level, however, there is the simple issue of language barriers in providing equal multicultural care. Evidence shows that simply increasing he availability of multilingual care -- especially in populations with a large number of non-English speakers -- greatly increases the quality of healthcare and overall health of immigrant populations (Ngo-Metzger et al., 2003).