Health care providers' perspectives on challenges and opportunities of intercultural health care in diabetes and obesity management: a qualitative study.

Background: Migrants often face worse health outcomes in countries of transit and destination because of challenges such as financial constraints, employment problems, lack of a network of social support, language and cultural differences, and difficulties accessing health services. As understanding how the migrant context affects patient-provider engagement is critical to the provision of contextually appropriate care, this study aimed at understanding primary health care provider perspectives on challenges and opportunities of the intercultural care process for migrant patients with diabetes and obesity.

Methods: This qualitative study within a multimethod, participatory research project involved primary care providers in clinics and primary care networks in Edmonton, Alberta, between September 2019 and February 2020.

Understanding the bigger picture: syndemic interactions of the immigrant and refugee context with the lived experience of diabetes and obesity.

Background: Providing contextually appropriate care and interventions for people with diabetes and/or obesity in vulnerable situations within ethnocultural newcomer communities presents significant challenges. Because of the added complexities of the refugee and immigrant context, a deep understanding of their realities is needed. Syndemic theory sheds light on the synergistic nature of stressors, chronic diseases and environmental impact on immigrant and refugee populations living in vulnerable conditions.