International Journal for Equity in Health
Volume 18, Issue 1, 2019

Assessing evidence of interventions addressing inequity among migrant populations: A two-stage systematic review (Review) (Open Access)

Yadee J. , Bangpan M. , Thavorn K. , Welch V. , Tugwell P. , Chaiyakunapruk N.*
  • a Department of Pharmaceutical Care, Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • b Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre), UCL, Institute of Education, University College London, London, United Kingdom
  • c Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, ICES UOttawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • d Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Bruyere Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • e School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada, WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • f School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, 46150, Malaysia, Center of Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research (CPOR), Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand, School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States, Asian Centre for Evidence Synthesis in Population, Implementation and Clinical Outcomes (PICO), Health and Well-being Cluster, Global Asia in the 21st Century (GA21) Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia, Department of Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Abstract

Background: Everyone has the right to achieve the standard of health and well-being. Migrants are considered as vulnerable populations due to the lack of access to health services and financial protection in health. Several interventions have been developed to improve migrant population health, but little is known about whether these interventions have considered the issue of equity as part of their outcome measurement. Objective: To assess the evidence of health interventions in addressing inequity among migrants. Methods: We adopted a two-stage searching approach to ensure the feasibility of this review. First, reviews of interventions for migrants were searched from five databases: PubMed, Cochrane, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EMBASE until June 2017. Second, full articles included in the identified reviews were retrieved. Primary studies included in the identified reviews were then evaluated as to whether they met the following criteria: experimental studies which include equity aspects as part of their outcome measurement, based on equity attributes defined by PROGRESS-Plus factors (place of residence, race/ethnicity, occupation, gender, religion, education, socio-economic status, social capital, and others). We analysed the information extracted from the selected articles based on the PRISMA-Equity guidelines and the PROGRESS-Plus factors. Results: Forty-nine reviews involving 1145 primary studies met the first-stage inclusion criteria. After exclusion of 764 studies, the remaining 381 experimental studies were assessed. Thirteen out of 381 experimental studies (3.41%) were found to include equity attributes as part of their outcome measurement. However, although some associations were found none of the included studies demonstrated the effect of the intervention on reducing inequity. All studies were conducted in high-income countries. The interventions included individual directed, community education and peer navigator-related interventions. Conclusions: Current evidence reveals that there is a paucity of studies assessing equity attributes of health interventions developed for migrant populations. This indicates that equity has not been receiving attention in these studies of migrant populations. More attention to equity-focused outcome assessment is needed to help policy-makers to consider all relevant outcomes for sound decision making concerning migrants. © 2019 The Author(s).

Author Keywords

Health migrant intervention equity

Index Keywords

education sound literature review social capital Embase Cinahl human socioeconomic status Medline religion high income country social status migrant experimental study male occupation female PsycINFO Review race feasibility study gender human experiment equity outcome assessment Health Policy ethnicity attention financial provision decision making standard (reference) information management systematic review practice guideline public health immigrant population
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85065641079&doi=10.1186%2fs12939-019-0970-x&partnerID=40&md5=efd05ddd35ffabaafc4faf79ad243dca
DOI: 10.1186/s12939-019-0970-x
ISSN: 14759276
Original Language: English