SynthesisBMJ open2017
Challenges and facilitators for health professionals providing primary healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers in high-income countries: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers, 17 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 17 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 245 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and Facilitators to Asylum Seekers and Refugees Accessing Non-Hospital-Based Care: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Pooled it
- Understanding equity-oriented maternity care for women of refugee background in high-income countries: a qualitative systematic review.International journal for equity in health · 2026Pooled it
- Primary healthcare models for refugees involving nurses: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Healthcare Providers' Attitudes and Experiences of the Quality Use of Medications Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Patients in Australia: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2024Pooled it
- Canadian immigrants' oral health and oral health care providers' cultural competence capacity.Canadian journal of dental hygiene : CJDH = Journal canadien de l'hygiene dentaire : JCHD · 2024Pooled it
- Health professionals' experiences of and attitudes towards mental healthcare for migrants and refugees in Europe: A qualitative systematic review.Transcultural psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- A Meta-Synthesis of the Experience of Chronic Temporomandibular Disorder Patients Within Health Care ServicesJournal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2023Pooled it
- Burden of vaccine-preventable diseases among at-risk adult populations in the US.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2022Pooled it
- Improving primary health care quality for refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic review of interventional approaches.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Pooled it
- Access to preventive sexual and reproductive health care for women from refugee-like backgrounds: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators to dental care access among asylum seekers and refugees in highly developed countries: a systematic review.BMC oral health · 2020Pooled it
- Utilisation of Healthcare Services and Medicines by Pakistani Migrants Residing in High Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A model explaining refugee experiences of the Australian healthcare system: a systematic review of refugee perceptions.BMC international health and human rights · 2019Pooled it
- A systematic literature review of reported challenges in health care delivery to migrants and refugees in high-income countries - the 3C model.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A Multilingual Digital Microlearning Intervention for Oral Health in Refugee Shelters: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Response to language barriers with patients from refugee background in general practice in Australia: findings from the OPTIMISE study.BMC health services research · 2021Trial
- Social exclusion and the perspectives of health care providers on migrants in Gauteng public health facilities, South Africa.PloS one · 2020Trial
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo thematically synthesise primary qualitative studies that explore challenges and facilitators for health professionals providing primary healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers in high-income countries.
designSystematic review and qualitative thematic synthesis.
methodsSearches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Web of Science. Search terms were combined for qualitative research, primary healthcare professionals, refugees and asylum seekers, and were supplemented by searches of reference lists and citations. Study selection was conducted by two researchers using prespecified selection criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool was conducted by the first author. A thematic synthesis was undertaken to develop descriptive themes and analytical constructs.
resultsTwenty-six articles reporting on 21 studies and involving 357 participants were included. Eleven descriptive themes were interpreted, embedded within three analytical constructs: healthcare encounter (trusting relationship, communication, cultural understanding, health and social conditions, time); healthcare system (training and guidance, professional support, connecting with other services, organisation, resources and capacity); asylum and resettlement. Challenges and facilitators were described within these themes.
conclusionsA range of challenges and facilitators have been identified for health professionals providing primary healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers that are experienced in the dimensions of the healthcare encounter, the healthcare system and wider asylum and resettlement situation. Comprehensive understanding of these challenges and facilitators is important to shape policy, improve the quality of services and provide more equitable health services for this vulnerable group.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.