The Experiences of Healthcare Services and Ageing Among Older Turkish Immigrants: A Qualitative Study.
Süleyman Şahin, Büşra Nur Temür, Selma Öncel and 2 others
PMID 39844520WHAT IT FOUND
Older Turkish immigrants in Norway described using translators, signs, or family members to communicate symptoms.
Some women hid concerns and were left undiagnosed. Most preferred family care over nursing homes, even when they described nursing homes as good.
Key findings
01Some female participants hid symptoms from physicians because language barriers and embarrassment made them unable to explain them, leaving them undiagnosed and untreated.
02Most participants preferred care from their children over staying in a nursing home, even though some said Norwegian nursing homes were good.
03Participants sometimes sought a second opinion from a private specialist in Türkiye, but Norwegian and Turkish physicians did not always recommend the same examinations for the same condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 17 people were interviewed, all aged 60 to 74, so it gives little information about older adults aged 80 or above. Participants were recruited by snowball sampling from one region of Norway, so the experiences may not represent other Turkish immigrants. Only one interview round was done, and people who had significant cognitive problems or language barriers in both Turkish and Norwegian were excluded. Interviews were translated from Turkish to Norwegian using Microsoft Translator for analysis, which may affect nuance. The study reports experiences and themes. It does not test whether translators, family care preferences, or second opinions improve or harm patient outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that using family members as translators is safe or effective. Some participants used children or spouses, but this study reports experiences, not outcomes, and it did not test communication methods.