Mind the Gate: General Practitioner's Attitudes Towards Depressed Patients with Diverse Migration Backgrounds

This study aims to examine (a) whether there are differences in general practitioners' (GPs) attitudes towards native Belgian patients, patients of foreign descent and asylum seeking patients who all express symptoms of major depression, and (b) whether these differences depend on GPs' experience with cultural competency training and interethnic contact. Using a video vignette study among 404 Flemish (Belgium) GPs, we find evidence of a provider bias. While GPs regard a patient of foreign descent as less trustworthy and less able to adhere to medical recommendations than a native Belgian patient, they also hold more pessimistic views on a potential recovery of an asylum seeking patient. In addition, we find that cultural competency training might alter GPs' attitudes of asylum seeking patients in a positive way. Summarized, our research highlights the need to target stereotypes among GPs for interventions designed to reduce migration-based disparities in healthcare use and health status.