Family Medicine & Primary Care Review

Full text

3/2026 vol. 28
Original paper

Beyond language: healthcare professionals’ perspectives on communication and healthcare access challenges among migrants and war refugees in the host country – a pilot study

Martyna Bójko 1
,
Paulina Szot 2, 3
,
Zuzanna Waszak 3, 4
,
Joanna Jarzębska 5
,
Damian Grusiecki 6
,
Dorota Kleszczewska 7
,
Katarzyna Lewtak 8

  1. Department of Children and Adolescents Health, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland

  2. Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland

  3. Students’ Scientific Circle of Hygiene and Prevention, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

  4. Praski Hospital, Warsaw, Poland

  5. Military Institute of Medicine – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland

  6. Międzyleski Specialist Hospital in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

  7. Department of Health Sociology, Education and Medical Communication, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland

  8. Department of Population Health Monitoring and Analysis, National Institute of Public Health NIH-National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Family Medicine & Primary Care Review 2026; 28(3): 231–242

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/fmpcr.2026.164652
Data publikacji online: 2026/09/29
Article file
02 FM&PCR 3 26 - Bójko - 2126 - Beyond language.pdf
  1. Castillo CHM, Garrafa V, Cunha T, et al. Access to health care as a human right in international policy: critical reflections and contemporary challenges. Cien Saude Colet 2017; 22(7): 2151–2160.
  2. Gil-González D, Carrasco-Portiño M, Vives-Cases C, et al. Is health a right for all? An umbrella review of the barriers to health care access faced by migrants. Ethn Health 2015; 20(5): 523–541.
  3. Williamson G. Healthcare Access Disparities among Marginalized Communities. Glob Perspect Health Med Nurs 2024; 3(1): 11–22.
  4. Maassen A, Nejat A, de Zeeuw J, et al. Why are Europe’s underserved still unprotected? A call to address structural barriers to immunisation. Lancet Prim Care 2025; 1.
  5. World Health Organization. Refugee and migrant health [online] 2026 Mar [cited 24.08.2026]. Available from URL: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/refugee-and-migrant-health.
  6. Galanis P, Spyros K, Siskou O, et al. Healthcare services access, use, and barriers among migrants in Europe: a systematic review. medRxiv 2022; 15(1): 28.
  7. Asif Z, Kienzler H. Structural barriers to refugee, asylum seeker and undocumented migrant healthcare access. Perceptions of Doctors of the World caseworkers in the UK. SSM Ment 2022; 1008.
  8. Borowczyk M, Stalmach-Przygoda A, Doroszewska A, et al. Developing an effective and comprehensive communication curriculum for undergraduate medical education in Poland – the review and recommendations. BMC Med Educ 2023; 23(1): 645.
  9. Chichirez CM, Purcărea VL. Interpersonal communication in healthcare. J Med Life 2018; 11(2): 119–122.
  10. Pena-Díaz C. Language barriers, mobility, and health equity: clinical risks, economic burden, and policy options for universal language access. Int J Equity Health 2026; 25: 178.
  11. Schulson LB, Rodriguez JA, Cruz R, et al. Patient Safety Event Risk and Language Barriers: A Scoping Review. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2025; 51(6): 438–446.
  12. Migrants’ health and persisting barriers to accessing health-care systems. EClinicalMedicine 2022; 44: 101321.
  13. International Organization for Migration. Migrants’ Right to Health – Legal and Policy Instruments Related to Migrants’ Access to Health Care, Social Protection and Labour in Selected East African Countries. Geneva: IOM; 2023. Available from URL: https://publications.iom.int/books/migrants-right-health-legal-and-policy-instruments-related-migrants-access-health-care-social.
  14. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Public health guidance on screening and vaccination for infectious diseases in newly arrived migrants within the EU/EEA. Stockholm: ECDC; 2018. Available from URL: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Public%20health%20guidance%20on%20screening%20and%20vaccination%20of%20migrants%20in%20the%20EU%20EEA.pdf.
  15. Andersen R, Newman JF. Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc 1973; 51(1): 95–124.
  16. Andersen RM. Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: does it matter? J Health Soc Behav 1995; 36(1): 1–10.
  17. Penchansky R, Thomas WJ. The concept of access: definition and relationship to consumer satisfaction. Med Care 1981; 19: 127–140.
  18. Levesque JF, Harris MF, Russell G. Patient-centred access to health care: conceptualising access at the interface of healthsystems and populations. Int J Equity Health 2013; 12: 18.
  19. Hynie M, Jaimes A, Oda A, et al. Assessing Virtual Mental Health Access for Refugees during the COVID-19 Pandemic Using the Levesque Client-Centered Framework: What Have We Learned and How Will We Plan for the Future? Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19(9): 5001.
  20. Gunst M, Jarman K, Yarwood V, et al. Healthcare access for refugees in Greece: Challenges and opportunities. Health Policy 2019; 123(9): 818–824.
  21. Cynthia AN, Zefack JT, Ajamah F, et al. Barriers and facilitators to healthcare access among Sub-Saharan African migrants in Europe: A scoping review. PLOS ONE 2026; 21(6): e0351011.
  22. Robertshaw L, Dhesi S, Jones LL. 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. BMJ Open 2017; 7: e015981.
  23. Dumitrache L, Nae M, Mareci A, et al. Experiences and Perceived Barriers of Asylum Seekers and People with Refugee Backgrounds in Accessing Healthcare Services in Romania. Healthcare (Basel) 2022; 10(11): 2162.
  24. Jelínková M, Dobiášová K, Těšinová JK, et al. Physicians’ experiences of intercultural differences in communication with Ukrainian refugees during the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. Cas Lek Cesk 2023; 162(2–3): 76–83.
  25. Quadri NS, Wilkins SL, Mann EM. Health Communication with Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant Communities. In: Halsey ES, Angelo KM, Barnett ED, et al., eds. CDC Yellow Book, 2026 edition: Health Information for International Travel. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2025. Available from URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK620929/.
  26. Brown CM, Bland S, Saif N. Effective Communication with Refugees and Immigrants. Prim Care 2021; 48(1): 23–34.
  27. Ganczak M, Kalinowski P, Pasek O, et al. Health System Barriers to Child Mandatory and Optional Vaccination among Ukrainian Migrants in Poland in the Context of MMR and HPV Vaccines – A Qualitative Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 20(1): 712.
  28. Těšinová JK, Dobiášová K, Jelínková M, et al. Professionals’ and Intercultural Mediators’ Perspectives on Communication With Ukrainian Refugees in the Czech Healthcare System. Health Expect 2024; 27(4): e14171.
  29. McGarry O, Hannigan A, Manuela De Almeida M, et al. What strategies to address communication barriers for refugees and migrants in health care settings have been implemented and evaluated across the WHO European Region? Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2018. Available from URL: https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/ce91bece-e747-4455-8fcc-c4ab6ff2e82d/content.
  30. Goldenberg SM, Schafers S, Grassby MH, et al. ‘We don’t have the right to get sick’: A qualitative study of gaps in public health insurance among Im/migrant women in British Columbia, Canada. PLOS Glob Public Health 2023; 3(1): e0001131.
  31. Kardas P, Mogilevkina I, Aksoy N, et al. Barriers to healthcare access and continuity of care among Ukrainian war refugees in Europe: findings from the RefuHealthAccess study. Front Public Health 2025; 13: 1516161.
  32. Lewtak K, Mazur J, Dwyer H, et al. Determinants of Ukrainian Mothers’ Intentions to Vaccinate Their Children in Poland: A Cross-Sectional Study. Vaccines (Basel) 2025; 13(3): 325.
  33. Vange SS, Nielsen MR, Michaëlis C, et al. Interpreter services for immigrants in European healthcare systems: a systematic review of access barriers and facilitators. Scand J Public Health 2024; 52(7): 893–906.
  34. Puthoopparambil SJ, Phelan M, MacFarlane A. Migrant health and language barriers: Uncovering macro level influences on the implementation of trained interpreters in healthcare settings. Health Policy 2021; 125(8): 1085–1091.
  35. Iqbal MP, Walpola R, Harris-Roxas B, et al. Improving primary health care quality for refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic review of interventional approaches. Health Expect 2022; 25(5): 2065–2094.
  36. Raymond KF, Hodge T, St Jean B, et al. Barriers to Long COVID Care in the U.S.: An Application of Levesque et al.’s Access Framework. Health Care Anal 2026; 34(2): 162–186.
  37. Luitel NP, Sainju P, Lamichhane B, et al. Breaking down barriers: A qualitative study of demand- and supply-side barriers to depression care in Nepal. Glob Ment Health (Camb) 2026; 13: e121.
Copyright: © 2026 Family Medicine & Primary Care Review. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
SUBMIT YOUR PAPER
Share
without publication fees
Coverage in
Integrated with
Editorial Policies
Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Publications