Navigating the care between two distinct cultures: a qualitative study of the experiences of Arabic-speaking immigrants in Norwegian hospitals

Abstract Background During the past decades, there has been an increase in the number of immigrants to European and Scandinavian countries. This has challenged the health-care systems, which cater to the needs of patients despite their cultural and linguistic barriers, in these countries. Most studies on this topic have focused on the perspectives of health-care providers in delivering their service. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how hospitalized Arabic-speaking patients experienced their interaction with the Norwegian health-care system. Methods In-depth interviews with 20 participants and researcher’s participant observation were conducted to explore the idiosyncrat…