The perception of youth health centres’ friendliness: does it differ between immigrant and Swedish-Scandinavian youths?

BACKGROUND: Ensuring a good quality service and equal access according to need for all young people is a key objective of the Swedish health system. The aim of this study was to explore youths’ perception of youth health centres’ (YHCs’) friendliness and to assess the differences in perception between immigrant and Swedish-Scandinavian youths. METHODS: All YHCs in the four northern counties in Sweden were invited (22 centres), and 20 agreed to participate. Overall, 1089 youths aged 16–25 years answered the youth-friendly health services-Sweden questionnaire between September 2016 and February 2017. Thirteen sub-domains of friendliness were identified and their scores were calculated. Multilevel analysis was used to examine the differences in perception between immigrant and Swedish-Scandinavian youths. RESULTS: Our sample consisted of 971 Swedish-Scandinavian youths (89.2%) and 118 immigrants (10.8%). Generally, both groups perceived the services to be very friendly. All 13 sub-domains were rated more than three in a four-point scale except for fear of exposure and parental support of psychosocial services. However, immigrant youths perceived YHCs less friendly than their counterparts, particularly regarding the domains of equity, respect, quality and parental support. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that even though youths perceived YHCs as highly friendly, there is a space for improvement regarding access to health care. Our findings highlight the importance of an open and culturally sensitive attitude of the staff and the need to engage parents and community as a key to improve immigrant youths’ accessibility to health care.