Att vara främling i sitt eget land - en litteraturöversikt om språkets betydelse för hälsan hos äldre immigranter
Språkbarriärer; äldre immigranter; hälsoutfall; hälsoskillnader; social integrationLanguage barriers; elderly immigrants; health impact; health disparities; social integration
Background: Getting older means a series of changes in life, some of which lead toincreased risk of poor health outcomes. Older people who immigrate to a new countryalso need to adapt to new cultures and norms, and having to learn a new language inorder to communicate with their environment. Being older and immigrant thus leads toa double vulnerability. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to examine how olderimmigrants? health is affected by not being able to communicate in a country?s officiallanguage. Method: The work was carried out as a general literature review, based on 13scientific articles. Search for articles was conducted in the databases PubMed, Scopus,and CINAHL. The result of the articles was analyzed according to different themes inorder to answer the aim of the study. Result: Language can be verified as a majorcontributing factor in the health of older immigrants. Existing research on language hasmainly been found associated with depression, social support, acculturation / adaptationto a new society, experiences of living as an immigrant, and health outcomes dependingon the skill level of a country's official language. In the qualitative studies were linksfound between language barriers and isolation and loneliness, depending on and supportof relatives and difficulties to participation in society. In the quantitative studies, theinfluence of language was identified in four of the five areas of health determinants.Older immigrants with poor language skills were shown to have more health problemsthan individuals with language skills. Discussion/conclusion: Because of theinterdisciplinary nature of the subject, the authors found many relevant links tolanguage and language barriers, which individually or cumulatively affect the lives ofolder immigrant. The authors discuss the older immigrants? isolation, the dependence ofrelatives, society's role and the fact that older immigrants are suffering of ill health. Thearea is relatively unexplored and the authors believe that more research is necessary toincrease further knowledge and understanding to be able to work with health promotion.