1. Health Literacy within the Reality of Newcomers' Culture and Language
Iraj Poureslami
Centre for Population Health Promotion Research (CPHPR), UBC

2. What do we know now?
Health status of newcomers and minority groups in BC and Canada
The link between culture and language and health status
Health literacy and its link to health status
Factors influencing health and health literacy in newcomer communities in BC

3. Newcomers in Canada & BC
Health status –psychological health- drops sharply after living in Canada (up to 10 years)‏
Health status after living in Canada
78% of immigrants rated their health status as excellent/very good upon arrival
Health status upon arrival
Immigrants might be highly educated in home country
> 25% of immigrants communicates with a language other than English or French
Immigrants may be considered illiterate and suffer negative impacts
British
Columbia
250,000 new immigrants/year are admitted
~ 25% is 15 years or younger
Canada

4. Newcomers’ health status: The role of culture & language
Under-use of preventive health screening
Under-diagnosis and poor treatment of health problems; mainly due to:
Linguistic and cultural isolation (cultural and institutional issues)‏
Lack of knowledge about and experience with the new healthcare system in Canada
Attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and practices in regard to health and illness
Institutional issue: Cultural competent system

5. Culture as an intervening factor in Health
Cultural differences can and do present major barriers to access and utilization of health care services. This is especially true when health care practitioners communicate with their patients of different culture, beliefs and language. These differences may affect their assessment, intervention, treatment, and evaluations.

6. Culture and health outcome
Strong evidence suggests an association between cultural diversity and health outcome. For instance, newcomers and minority groups are among the poorest in terms of access to and utilization of health care services in Canada.

7. Culture, health literacy, health status
Health Literacy (BC team definition)
Many newcomers to Canada have health literacy-related problems, due to their lack of knowledge of either official languages, cultural beliefs, and institutional/system factors

8. Newcomers health and well-being in Canada
There are many barriers for newcomers in terms of accessing and navigating healthcare system and even quality health information.
The ability of newcomers to access health care services and to navigate the health care system varies widely, depending on immigration status, literacy level, health literacy skills, country of origin and institutional discrimination.

9. What we’ve found in our previous studies
Language, culture, and lack of information are the three major factors that prevent individuals in many ethnocultural communities in BC from accessing care services
There is a significant gap in current knowledge, namely the socio-cultural and economic factors influencing health and well-being of newcomer communities in BC
There is a critical need to develop a communication Model to reach people from cultural communities

10. Suggestions made by key-informants & community members re appropriate communication model
Family and community needs, priorities, and challenges must be addressed
Involvement of community members in program planning, development, and delivery
Use cultural relevant materials (e.g., print health information and video clips developed in the community language and presented by well-known and most trusted individuals from the community)

11. Where did we go from here?
Used participatory developed and culturally-appropriate health information materials in the community language for diverse cultural groups in GVA
Involved healthcare professionals from the community in all stages of our studies to improve communication with newcomers
Created knowledge exchange and capacity building opportunities for Newcomers: Cross-cultural approach

12. Centre for Population Health Promotion Research (CPHPR), UBC
Thank you
Dr. Iraj Poureslami, PhD
Centre for Population Health Promotion Research (CPHPR), UBC
(604)