Health Care Use and Barriers to Care for Chronic Inflammatory Diseases (CID) among First and Second Generation South Asian Immigrant Children and Parents in Ontario Canada

Andrea Rishworth (), Tiffany Cao, Ashika Niraula and Kathi Wilson
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Andrea Rishworth: Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, Faculty Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
Tiffany Cao: Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, Faculty Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
Ashika Niraula: CERC in Migration and Integration, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Kathi Wilson: Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, Faculty Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: Although immigrants are disproportionately impacted by growing chronic inflammatory disease (CIDs) rates, yet suffer barriers to access health care, little attention has been given to their primary healthcare or specialist healthcare access as it relates to complex, chronic diseases in Canada, a country with universal health care. This study aims to investigate CID health care use and barriers to care among first- and second-generation immigrant South Asian children and parents in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario. Drawing on analysis of 24 in depth interviews with children and parents (14 children, 10 parents), the results reveal that although CIDs disproportionately affects South Asian immigrants, they encounter health system, geographic, interpersonal, and knowledge barriers to access requisite care. These barriers exist despite participants having a GP, and are compounded further by limited familial systems, culturally insensitive care, and structural inequities that in some instances make parents choose between health access or other basic needs. Although all participants recognized the importance of specialized care, only 11 participants regularly accessed specialized care, creating new schisms in CID management. The findings suggest that a multisectoral approach that address individual and structural level socio-structural drivers of health inequities are needed to create more equitable healthcare access.

Keywords: immigrant health; chronic inflammatory disease (CIDS); health care access; barriers to care; Canada; Ontario (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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