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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
[The monolingual Sámi population is less satisfied with the primary health care]
Tove Nystad1, Marita Melhus, Eiliv Lund
1Senter for samisk helseforskning, Institutt for samfunnsmedisin, Universitetet i Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø. tove.nystad@ism.uit.no
Background:
The purpose of this study was to describe patient satisfaction in general practice among the Sámi monolingual population, as compared with the Norwegian population.
Material And Methods:
The data was collected in 2002-2004 through a health survey in communities with Sámi and Norwegian population, SAMINOR. The analyses included 15,612 men and women between 36 and 79 years, with a response rate of 60.1%. The questionnaire included questions about patients' satisfaction with primary care and what language they spoke at home.
Results:
The monolingual Sámi population was less satisfied with the primary health care than the Norwegian population, RR 2.4 (95% CI 2.1-2.7) and also less satisfied with the physicians' language skills, RR 5.8 (95% CI 4.8-7.0). Frequent misunderstandings between the physician and the patient based on language difficulty were also reported, RR 3.8 (95% CI 3.3-4.3). In addition, approximately one third of the Sámi did not want to have an interpreter in on the consultation.
Interpretation:
These results indicated that physicians' knowledge of the Sámi language is important for patient satisfaction in this region.
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