A descriptive phenomenology study of newcomers’ experience of maternity care services: Chinese women’s perspectives

BMC Health Services Research

Chia-Chi Li²  Yin-Chun Liu¹  Nazilla Khanlou⁴  Olive Wahoush⁵  Christine Kurtz Landy³  Tsorng-Yeh Lee³ 

[1] National Yang-Ming University, No.161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City 114, Taiwan;School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, No.161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City 114, Taiwan;School of Nursing, York University, #312 HNES Building, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada;Women's Mental Health Research, Faculty of Health, Academic Lead, Lillian Wright Maternal Child Health Scholars Program, School of Nursing, York University, 270G York Lanes, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada;School of Nursing, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S4L8, Canada

关键词: Immigrants;    Women;    Chinese;    Access to maternity health services;   

Others  :  1133461
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6963-14-114

 received in 2013-08-16, accepted in 2014-02-27,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Maternity health care available in Canada is based on the needs of women born in Canada and often lacks the flexibility to meet the needs of immigrant women. The purpose of this study was to explore immigrant Chinese women’s experiences in accessing maternity care, the utilization of maternity health services, and the obstacles they perceived in Canada.

Methods

This descriptive phenomenology study used in-depth semi-structured interviews to examine immigrant Chinese women’s experiences. Fifteen participants were recruited from the Chinese community in Toronto, Canada by using purposive sampling. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim into written Chinese. The transcripts were analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological method.

Results

Six themes were extracted from the interviews: (1) preference for linguistically and culturally competent healthcare providers, with obstetricians over midwives, (2) strategies to deal with the inconvenience of the Canadian healthcare system (3) multiple resources to obtain pregnancy information, (4) the merits of the Canadian healthcare system, (5) the need for culturally sensitive care, and (6) the emergence of alternative supports and the use of private services.

Conclusions

The findings provide new knowledge and understanding of immigrant Chinese women’s experiences in accessing maternity health services within a large metropolitan Canadian city. Participants described two unique experiences within the themes: preference for linguistically and culturally competent healthcare providers, with obstetricians over midwives, and the emergence of alternative supports and the use of private services. Few studies of immigrant maternity service access have identified these experiences which may be linked to cultural difference. Further investigation with women from different cultural backgrounds is needed to develop a comprehensive understanding of immigrant women’s experiences with maternity care.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Lee et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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