HEALTH WORKERS’ ATTITUDES, KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE TOWARDS MIGRANT-PATIENTS

Abstract

Purpose: This study is aimed to examine the attitudes and knowledge of different groups of health professionals and their work with migrant patients, as well as to identify contributory factors and barriers. Materials and Methods: The study is designed as a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, conducted in 2019 on a representative sample of 30 health workers in Gevgelija General Hospital, which examined the attitudes, knowledge and practice of health professionals when working with migrant patients, using of an instrument – a structured questionnaire for assessing attitudes (Dias, Gama, Cargaleiro & Martins, 2012). Results: The results of this study reveal that physicians are more likely to have negative attitudes towards migrant patients compared to nurses for all examined attitudes. Among health professionals, the older ones expressed less positive attitudes than the younger ones. Male health workers are more likely to agree with the views expressed in the study. Spearman’s correlation coefficient suggests that as the number of migrant patients increases, so does the agreement, and vice versa (R=0.482, R=576, R=0.387, respectively). Conclusion: Development strategies are needed that prevent negative attitudes and stereotypes in healthcare professionals in providing health services to migrants, in order to enable the improvement of the ability and knowledge of healthcare professionals to work with culturally diverse population, to be culturally sensitive, to obtain positive health outcomes in the migrant population