Assessment of health perceptions, use of health services and traditional health practices of Afghan immigrants in Türkiye

Abstract

Immigration, as a social determinant of health, encompasses several social and economictransformations. Neglecting to adequately address this issue could potentially worsen pre-existingchallenges within health systems and in the management of migration. In the present study, we aimto evaluate the health perceptions, traditional health practices and use of health services of Afghanimmigrants. We enrolled 1597 Afghan immigrants over 18 years old in the descriptive cross-sectionalresearch. The mean age of the immigrants was 49.19 ± 1.6 years. The smallest number of points thatcan be achieved on the health perception scale is 15, while the greatest number is 75. We found thatthe health perception scale average score is 37.61 ± 7.32. Some factors, such as age 65 and over,female gender, postgraduate education level, good social insurance and economic status, being apublic officer, not having any infectious diseases, and having a good Turkish level, have positivelyaffected the health perception levels (p < 0.05). Moreover, we observed that cultural differences,expensive health care, a lack of social insurance, fear and anxiety, lack of language skills, waitingtimes and traditional health practices were the most common barriers to accessing healthcare services.Considering these issues in the health system, identifying the factors that negatively affect theperception of health and related to the use of health services can help immigrants increase their useof health services and improve their health.