Patients’ perception of differences in general practitioners’ attitudes toward immigrants compared to the general population: Qualicopc Slovenia

INTRODUCTION Globally, the number of immigrants is rising every year, so that the number of immigrants worldwide is estimated at 200 million. In Slovenia, immigrants comprise 6.5% of the overall population. Immigrants bring along to a foreign country their cultural differences and these differences can affect immigrants' overall health status and lead to chronic health conditions. The aim of this study was to identify patients' perception of general practitioners' (GPs') attitudes toward immigrants in Slovenia. METHODS This study was based on the Qualicopc questionnaire. We used the questions that targeted patients' experience with the appointment at their GP on the day that the study was carried out. RESULTS There were no differences in GPs' accessibility based on groups included in our study (p>0.05). Compared to the non-immigrant population, first-generation immigrants answered that their GPs were impolite (p=0.018) and that they did not take enough time for them (p=0.038). In addition, they also experienced more difficulties understanding their GP's instructions (p<0.001). Second-generation immigrants experienced more negative behaviour from GPs, and first-generation immigrants had more difficulties understanding GPs' instructions. CONCLUSION There may be some differences in patients' perception of GPs' attitudes towards immigrants in comparison with the general Slovenian population. However, based on the perception of the immigrants that do benefit from the medical care it is not possible to judge the GPs' attitudes towards immigrants as worse compared to their attitude towards the non-immigrant population. Indeed, there may be other reasons why the patients answered the way they did.