“I have to Turn Myself Inside Out”

Abstract

In multicultural societies, health care professionals encounter immigrant families of children with asthma. They play an important role in supporting these families, but few studies have focused on this phenomenon. The aim of the present study is to gain a broader understanding of the challenges health care professionals face in their encounters with non-Western immigrant parents of children with asthma. Seventeen professional caregivers were interviewed, and their narratives were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that health care professionals’ main challenges when encountering immigrant parents can be described by the theme, “Turning oneself inside out.” This theme is characterized by five categories: gender and professional issues, impact on professional relationships, communication challenges, unfamiliar disease and treatment perceptions, and time issues. The results highlight the importance of providing health care professionals with support and organizational conditions that increase opportunities to understand the unique situation of these families.