Health status of female Moldovan immigrants to Italy by health literacy level and age group: a descriptive study
Background: Migration flows from Eastern Europe to Italy have been large and continue to grow. The purpose of this study was to examine the health status of a population of Moldovan immigrant women, and their access to health care services in northern Italy, by age group and health literacy level.
Methods: We administered an ad-hoc questionnaire to adult Moldovan women to assess their lifestyles, self-reported health status (symptoms and diseases), access to health services, and health literacy. Then, using descriptive statistics, we compared our data with findings for a sample of Italian women of the same age living in the north-east of the country.
Results: Our sample included 170 Moldovan women (aged 46.5 ± 12.3) in five occupational categories: home care workers (28.2%); cleaners (27.1%); health care workers (5.9%); other occupations (28.8%); and unemployed (10%). Active smokers were twice as prevalent among the women with a low health literacy. Health literacy level also determined access to healthcare services: women with a higher health literacy tended to use scheduled health services and screening programs, while those with a lower health literacy relied more on emergency health services. For all age groups, the Moldovan sample reported a higher prevalence of allergies, lumbar disorders and depression than the Italian controls.
Conclusions: The reported prevalence of some diseases was higher among Moldovan immigrant women than among Italian resident women. Health literacy was associated with the immigrant women’s lifestyle and the use of health care services, as previously seen for the autochthonous population.
Figure 1
On 17 Sep, 2020
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Health status of female Moldovan immigrants to Italy by health literacy level and age group: a descriptive study
On 17 Sep, 2020
On 17 Sep, 2020
On 08 Sep, 2020
Received 17 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 10 Aug, 2020
On 10 Aug, 2020
On 10 Aug, 2020
Received 10 Aug, 2020
On 06 Aug, 2020
On 05 Aug, 2020
On 05 Aug, 2020
On 06 Aug, 2020
On 04 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
Posted 25 Mar, 2020
On 02 Jul, 2020
Received 26 Jun, 2020
On 05 Jun, 2020
Received 22 May, 2020
On 04 May, 2020
Invitations sent on 29 Apr, 2020
On 23 Mar, 2020
On 22 Mar, 2020
On 22 Mar, 2020
On 21 Mar, 2020
Background: Migration flows from Eastern Europe to Italy have been large and continue to grow. The purpose of this study was to examine the health status of a population of Moldovan immigrant women, and their access to health care services in northern Italy, by age group and health literacy level.
Methods: We administered an ad-hoc questionnaire to adult Moldovan women to assess their lifestyles, self-reported health status (symptoms and diseases), access to health services, and health literacy. Then, using descriptive statistics, we compared our data with findings for a sample of Italian women of the same age living in the north-east of the country.
Results: Our sample included 170 Moldovan women (aged 46.5 ± 12.3) in five occupational categories: home care workers (28.2%); cleaners (27.1%); health care workers (5.9%); other occupations (28.8%); and unemployed (10%). Active smokers were twice as prevalent among the women with a low health literacy. Health literacy level also determined access to healthcare services: women with a higher health literacy tended to use scheduled health services and screening programs, while those with a lower health literacy relied more on emergency health services. For all age groups, the Moldovan sample reported a higher prevalence of allergies, lumbar disorders and depression than the Italian controls.
Conclusions: The reported prevalence of some diseases was higher among Moldovan immigrant women than among Italian resident women. Health literacy was associated with the immigrant women’s lifestyle and the use of health care services, as previously seen for the autochthonous population.
Figure 1