Exploring Healthcare Access Challenges Among South Asian Migrants in Australia: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

Issue Addressed

Healthcare access disparities, particularly among migrant populations, are escalating. This research focuses on exploring aspects related to healthcare access disparities in the rapidly growing South Asian communities in Australia, which bear a disproportionate burden of chronic diseases.

Methods

This study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach (qualitative followed by quantitative), with five focus group discussions (six to eight participants each) and an online survey (n = 460). NVivo and SPSS were used for qualitative and quantitative analysis, respectively.

Results

The study participants are from South Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Thematic analysis of focus group discussions identified factors influencing healthcare service utilisation among migrants, including a preference for home remedies over doctor consultations, language barriers, limited access to relevant information, high costs of specialist and dental care, dissatisfaction with rushed doctor interactions and system-related concerns. One in six survey respondents encountered challenges in accessing timely healthcare, with the most frequently reported barriers being prolonged waiting times (72%), out-of-pocket expenses (48%), and limited awareness and availability of services (36%). Migrants with multiple chronic diseases faced the highest barriers to accessing timely healthcare (57.8%), with significantly higher odds of encountering these barriers than those with no or one chronic condition (OR = 0.436, 95% CI = 0.222–0.856).

Conclusions

South Asian migrants face challenges to access affordable, timely, patient-centred healthcare. A robust collaboration between services, healthcare providers and the community is essential for sustainable solutions.

So What?

Reducing waiting times and language barriers, improving awareness of available services and enhancing access to affordable specialist and dental services are imperative to foster equitable healthcare outcomes for Australia's diverse population.