Page 122 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
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ko Prosen, Sabina Ličen, Urška Bogataj, Doroteja Rebec, and Igor Karnjuš

Table 1 Key Barriers to Accessing Healthcare for Newly Arrived Migrants

Category Barrier

System and Entitlement to publicly funded healthcare
provider-level Discriminatory practices and negative attitudes of frontline staff
barriers Quality of care
Knowledge of health services and how to use them
Patient-level Adaptation to a new healthcare system
barriers Language barriers
Asylum-seeker status

Notes Adapted from Hargreaves and Friedland (2013, p. 32).

to be culturally competent in order to provide high-quality care to patients
from different cultural backgrounds (Prosen, 2018; Repo, Vahlberg, Salminen,
Papadopoulos, & Leino-Kilpi, 2017).

The aim of the study, as part of a large-scale EU-funded project (Cross-
border network for migrant women: social integration, sexual and reproduc-
tive health – INTEGRA), was to explore the experiences of hospitalised mi-
grant women and their encounters with healthcare professionals, as well as
their perspectives on the care rendered that touches on reproductive health
issues.

Methods

Research Design

A descriptive qualitative study using a qualitative content analysis approach
was conducted in a maternity hospital in Slovenia (Gynaecological and Ma-
ternity Hospital Postojna). A descriptive qualitative approach is based on
the general premises of constructivist inquiry and is often used in studies
which are descriptive in nature, especially in examining healthcare phenom-
ena (Polit & Beck Tatano, 2014; Sandelowski, 2000). This research design was
identified as important and appropriate for a research question focused on
exploring the who, what and where of events or experiences and gaining in-
sights into poorly understood phenomena (Kim, Sefcik, & Bradway, 2017).

Study Setting

The Slovenian healthcare system is a public service organised on three levels
that are mainly funded by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. Hospital
treatment is provided on secondary and tertiary levels in general and spe-
cialised hospitals located around Slovenia. Besides hospital treatment, the
secondary level ensures specialised ambulatory care, which differs from am-

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