Factors Affecting Access to Health Care Services for Syrians in Turkey

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to find out about the access of Syrians residing in a neighborhood densely populated by Syrians in Izmir to therapeutic health care services and to identify the factors affecting their access.
METHODS: The dependent variable of this cross-sectional study is the status of Syrians' access to therapeutic health care services. The independent variables of this study include age, gender, educational background, marital status, working status, perceived economic status, registration status, whether speaking Turkish, presence of language barrier, time of residence in Turkey and Izmir, type of housing, presence of heating, number of individuals, family, rooms and individuals per room in the housing. The population of this study was composed of all Syrians residing in the neighborhood between September and October 2015.
RESULTS: In this study, 556 Syrian individuals were interviewed in 97 households. It was found that 132 (56.9%) of the 232 individuals who needed access to health care services could not access them. The increase in the number of people sharing housing and presence of language barriers had a negative impact on access to health care (p=0.029 and p=0.001, respectively).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Immigrant polyclinics that provide primary health care should be generalized to prevent the language barrier from being an obstacle in access to health care.