Health Information Seeking Among Immigrant Families in Western Canada

Studies on immigrant populations' access to healthcare in Canada tend to focus on adults and usually concentrate on specific ethnic groups, particularly South Asians and Chinese. This study sought to present the experiences of immigrant parents when they access health services for their children focusing specifically on the various sources of information that they used to improve their children's health.

This qualitative study was carried out in Edmonton, Alberta between April to October 2018. Fifty parents, chosen using purposive sampling participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Interviews were recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically.

We developed three main themes from the data: Accessing social networks for informational support, the role of professionals in accessing health care information, and navigating and evaluating information sources. The study demonstrates that immigrant families consulted various sources of information in order to meet their children's healthcare needs. The most common source was the Internet followed by friends and family members, and health care professionals.

Findings suggest that health information that is disseminated using the Internet needs to be made available in multiple languages to facilitate communication to persons who are not fluent in English nor French. Also, policy makers and health care professionals must increase focus on informal sources of health care information.