Towards culturally sensitive care for elderly immigrants! Design and development of a community based intervention programme in the Netherlands.: Background: In Western countries, health and social welfare facilities are not easily accessible for elderly immigrants and their needs are sub optimally addressed. A transition is needed towards culturally sensitive services to make cure and care accessible for elderly immigrants. We developed an intervention programme in which ethnic community health workers (CHWs) act as liaisons between immigrant elderly and local health care and social welfare services. Methods: In a quasi experimental design, the effectiveness of introduction of CHWs, will be evaluated in three (semi) urban residential areas in the Netherlands within three different migrant groups and compared with a control group. The primary outcome is use of health care and social welfare facilities by the elderly. Secondary outcomes are quality of life and functional impairments. Implementation of the intervention programme will be examined with focus groups and data registration of CHW activities. In this paper design and methodological issues are discussed. Discussion: This study can contribute to the improvement of care for elderly immigrants by developing culturally sensitive care whereby the elderly immigrants themselves actively participate. To enable a successful transition, proper identification and recruitment of CHWs is required. Once proven effective, the CHW function can be further integrated into the existing local health care and welfare system. © 2014 Bohn, Stafleu van Loghum.

care use Health Older migrants welfare community health worker

Netherlands Community Health Workers multicenter study psychological aspect Community Health Services community care human daily life activity statistics Activities of Daily Living Aged health auxiliary Cultural Competency cultural competence quality of life Humans migrant male Emigrants and Immigrants female Aged, 80 and over very elderly social welfare Article organization and management Case-Control Studies case control study Health Services for the Aged elderly care