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Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency

Low health literacy results in health inequity are linked with poor adherence to medical care. In the globalized Japanese context, the number of migrants with Japanese as a second language is increasing year after year. Since limited Japanese proficiency may pose a greater health risk, dentists are...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Imafuku, Rintaro, Nagatani, Yukiko, Shoji, Masaki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9690798/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36429391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214672
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author Imafuku, Rintaro
Nagatani, Yukiko
Shoji, Masaki
author_facet Imafuku, Rintaro
Nagatani, Yukiko
Shoji, Masaki
author_sort Imafuku, Rintaro
collection PubMed
description Low health literacy results in health inequity are linked with poor adherence to medical care. In the globalized Japanese context, the number of migrants with Japanese as a second language is increasing year after year. Since limited Japanese proficiency may pose a greater health risk, dentists are expected to manage cross-cultural communication and provide dental care to foreign patients. This study explored dentists’ experiences of treating patients with limited Japanese proficiencies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 community dentists and the qualitative data were analyzed through a thematic analysis approach. Their major challenges were classified into three themes—linguistic aspect (e.g., complicated explanation regarding root canal treatment), sociolinguistic aspect (e.g., communication with foreign residents with limited dental knowledge), and sociocultural aspect (e.g., cultural differences in their dental aesthetics and insurance treatment system). Several management strategies were employed, including linguistic accommodation, avoidance of complexities, use of various communication tools, and getting help from others. However, they were unsatisfied with their practice because they could not understand the patients’ psychosocial aspects due to incomplete communication. These findings provided insights into dentists’ practice in the globalized context.
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spelling pubmed-96907982022-11-25 Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency Imafuku, Rintaro Nagatani, Yukiko Shoji, Masaki Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Low health literacy results in health inequity are linked with poor adherence to medical care. In the globalized Japanese context, the number of migrants with Japanese as a second language is increasing year after year. Since limited Japanese proficiency may pose a greater health risk, dentists are expected to manage cross-cultural communication and provide dental care to foreign patients. This study explored dentists’ experiences of treating patients with limited Japanese proficiencies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 community dentists and the qualitative data were analyzed through a thematic analysis approach. Their major challenges were classified into three themes—linguistic aspect (e.g., complicated explanation regarding root canal treatment), sociolinguistic aspect (e.g., communication with foreign residents with limited dental knowledge), and sociocultural aspect (e.g., cultural differences in their dental aesthetics and insurance treatment system). Several management strategies were employed, including linguistic accommodation, avoidance of complexities, use of various communication tools, and getting help from others. However, they were unsatisfied with their practice because they could not understand the patients’ psychosocial aspects due to incomplete communication. These findings provided insights into dentists’ practice in the globalized context. MDPI 2022-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9690798/ /pubmed/36429391 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214672 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Imafuku, Rintaro
Nagatani, Yukiko
Shoji, Masaki
Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title_full Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title_fullStr Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title_full_unstemmed Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title_short Communication Management Processes of Dentists Providing Healthcare for Migrants with Limited Japanese Proficiency
title_sort communication management processes of dentists providing healthcare for migrants with limited japanese proficiency
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9690798/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36429391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214672
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