Women from ethnic minority backgrounds face barriers to seeking medical attention

By Angela Betsaida B. Laguipo, BSNNov 12 2019

England is a multi-ethnic society, often characterized as a “super-diversity” country. The ethnic minority background as doubled in size from 2001 to 2011 and the number steadily increases. Super-diversity pertains to a shift in recent immigration patterns, which allows other ethnicities from across the globe, to move and live in the region.

Though the country has a surge of immigrants, there are still barriers ethnic minorities experience in the foreign land. In a new study by researchers at the University of Surrey and Kings College London found that ethnic minority women were at a higher risk of delaying seeking medical attention due to feelings of embarrassment and fear that a symptom was a sign of a serious illness.

The study, which was published in the journal Psycho-Oncology, about 75 to 91 percent of ethnic minority women feels embarrassed to consult a physician compared to just 8 percent in white women in Europe. Also, these women felt scared that any symptom may hint that something is wrong in their body or they have a serious illness.

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Women from ethnic minority backgrounds who had a poor understanding of what the doctor says were three times less likely to feel confident to talk when they seek medical help.

The researchers gathered data from 720 women of various ethnic backgrounds, such as White, African, Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian. The aim of the study is to determine the reasons why these women delay their consultations or do not consult a doctor at all, which may lead to serious complications.

The team floated questionnaires containing 11 statements, and the women were asked of how strongly they agreed. The questions were designed to determine possible barriers to consulting a physician if the women felt symptoms. In addition to these questions, the women also answered about fatalistic beliefs and health literacy levels.

In women of ethnic minority background, fatalism was higher, which involves having strong perception and views on beliefs that people die when it’s their time if bad things happen, they were meant to be, or that nothing can change what was meant to be.

In the study, the team also found that women of ethnic minority background who moved to the United Kingdom when they were adults were 40 percent less likely to report worrying about wasting a physician’s time, than those of the same background but were born and raised in the UK.

Women of Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, and African descent and moved to the UK are at a higher risk of using traditional medicine, while 30 percent of all minority women in the study, except Bangladeshi, said they would pray about a symptom, compared to white women. However, the study didn’t specify if these women opted just to pray or prayed alongside seeking medical help. Same is true with women who use traditional remedies; it’s not known if they would use these medicines alongside seeking medical attention.

“We found that women from different ethnic backgrounds experienced different barriers to seeking help. Often studies aren't fully representative of the population, so including people from different ethnic backgrounds in research is an important step in identifying how to reduce inequalities,” Dr. Katriina Whitaker from the University of Surrey said.

"By addressing the barriers present in different communities, we have an opportunity to implement changes that can make everyone feel able to access healthcare. Only then will everyone have the best chance of surviving their cancer,” she added.

The researches emphasized that certain diseases, particularly cancer, should be detected earlier. The earlier stage cancer is diagnosed, the higher the chance of people surviving the disease. They urge that people should seek medical help or consult a doctor if they notice certain chances in their bodies, which they see as abnormal.

Focusing on ethnic minority women should be one of the priorities of the healthcare system, making sure they seek medical attention. Moreover, making sure these women are made aware of the things that can be done to make appointments easier, like using translation services, or taking into consideration their culture and beliefs, may help them gain the confidence not to feel embarrassed and speak openly to their doctor.