Communication problems due to language and cultural differences between health care professionals and patients are widely recognized. Finns are described as more silent whereas one concurrent large immigrant group, the Somalis, are described as more open in their communication. The aim of the study was to explore physicians-nurses/ midwives' communication when providing reproductive and maternity health care to Somali women in Finland. Four individual and three focus group interviews were carried out with 10 gynecologists/obstetricians and 15 nurses/midwives from five selected clinics. The health care providers considered communication (including linguistic difficulties), cultural traditions, and religious beliefs to be problems when working with Somali women. Male and female physicians were generally more similar in communication style, interpersonal contacts, and cultural awareness than the nurses/ midwives who were engaged in more partnership-building with the Somali women in the clinics. Despite the communication and cultural problems, there was a tentative mutual understanding between the Finnish reproductive health care professionals and the Somali women in the clinics. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011.

culture Somali women Immigrant communication reproductive health Finland

Health Personnel Communication Barriers Finland nurse psychological aspect health care personnel human communication disorder sex difference health service Professional-Patient Relations Physicians Nurses language Cultural Competency ethnology religion cultural competence human relation health personnel attitude Attitude of Health Personnel Reproductive Health Services Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants female cultural factor Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice women's health Article organization and management migration midwife Midwifery physician Somalia Sex Factors Cultural Characteristics Maternal Health Services attitude to health