Cultural factors related to immigrants' health: a scoping review

This scoping review investigates the cultural factors influencing the health of immigrants by applying Donabedian's structure-process-outcome (SPO) model. While immigrant health has been extensively studied, cultural factors have not been systematically analyzed within a comprehensive healthcare quality framework.

Following the Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework, 42 studies were identified and analyzed using the SPO model to categorize cultural factors into structural, process, and outcome dimensions.

Structural factors included social support, discrimination, ethnicity, language barriers, cultural competence, and parents' culturalism. Process factors included acculturation to new cultures, while outcome factors encompassed acculturative stress and an ethnic identity crisis. Social support and cultural competence were crucial for mitigating health challenges, whereas discrimination and language barriers were significant obstacles.

This study highlights the importance of an integrated approach to understanding immigrant health by addressing cultural factors within a structured health model. Our findings provide actionable insights for planning culturally sensitive policies and services to enhance immigrant health outcomes.