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Publication Date

6-26-2017

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Advisor:

K Scott, Jefferson College of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.

Abstract

Understanding and evaluating the healthcare utilization patterns of the approximately 70,000 refugees resettled in the United States each year can provide the background needed to improve services and policies on refugee health. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the healthcare services that refugees utilize after resettlement in the United States. A systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Five databases were searched including Ovid Medline, Scopus and CINAHL, Cochrane, and PRISMA. Inclusion criteria included refugees residing in the United States only. The search yielded a total of 17,027 articles including 9,457 from Ovid, 7,045 from CINAHL and 525 from Scopus, and 0 from both Cochrane and PRISMA. After duplicates were removed, 13,117 articles remained. Two reviewers independently selected studies, extracted data, and reached consensus on study inclusion and quality. Results were summarized descriptively. 113 studies met the criteria for the final studies included for qualitative synthesis. Results from this systematic review showed the distribution of healthcare utilization studies were more often assessing mental health (25), followed by all care (14), refugee health assessment (12), prenatal care (11), usual source of care/primary care (9), women's cancer screenings (9), pediatric care (7), dental care (7), TB screening (6), HBV screening (3), emergency services (3), hospital services (3), HIV (2) and traditional care (2). These findings suggest that many factors affect how different refugee groups utilize healthcare services. It is important to note that refugees are a heterogeneous group in which patterns and trends cannot be assumed for every healthcare service. More research must be conducted to better understand health seeking behavior among resettled refugees so that interventions can be designed to improve care and decrease barriers to care refugees may encounter.

Presentation: 25:25

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