Abstract

MOURAO, Susana Sofia Monteiro  and  BERNARDES, Sónia Gomes da Costa Figueira. Ethnic minorities’ and immigrants’ therapeutic (non)adherence: What is the role of social and cultural contexts?. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2014, vol.32, n.3, pp.341-351. ISSN 0870-8231.  https://doi.org/10.14417/ap.835.

Immigrants and ethnic minorities have been identified as vulnerable groups in health, in general, and in what concerns therapeutic non-adherence (TA) in particular; i.e., (not)following health-care providers’ therapeutic recommendations. The general aim of this paper is presenting a literature review of immigrants’/ethnic minorities’ TA determinants. We will start by highlighting the reasons as to why immigrants’/ethnic minorities’ therapeutic (non)adherence should be a topic of concern. Then, we will present a review of the main determinants of immigrants’/ethnic minorities’TA, at different levels of analysis (e.g., broad structural level; social and community networks; material and social conditions) and emphasize that non-adherence among immigrants/ethnic minorities is mostly non-intentional, seeing as how it is associated with issues such as: low socio-economic conditions, language barriers and cultural mismatches. Finally, we will highlight the role of health-care providers in tackling this health-related problem and reflect about the importance of promoting development and training of health-care providers’ multicultural abilities.

Keywords : Therapeutic adherence; Determinants of (non)adherence; Immigrants; Ethnic minorities.

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