Measuring physicians’ religious competence in clinical health communication context: female Muslim immigrant patients’ expectations

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-02-2022-0020
• Published date: 02 December 2022
• Date: 02 December 2022
• Pages: 16-27
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Inequalities & diverse/minority groups,Sociology,Race & ethnic studies,Minorities,Multiculturalism,Racial identity,Work,economy & organizations,Labour movements
• Author: Rukhsana Ahmed,Yuping Mao

Measuring physicians’religious

competence in clinical health

communication context: female Muslim

immigrant patients’expectations

Rukhsana Ahmed and Yuping Mao

Abstract

Purpose –This exploratory study aims to examine female Muslim immigrant patients’ expectations of

physicians’religious competence during clinicalinteractions.

Design/methodology/approach –In total, 101 female Muslim immigrants in Ottawa, Canada, complet ed

an eight-item survey measuring patients’ expectati ons of physicians’ religious competence during clini cal

communication.

Findings –Results from the independentsamples t-tests and one-way ANOVA suggested that female

Muslim immigrant patientsin this study expected their doctors to be aware of Islam as a religionand be

sensitive to their religious needs, especially food/dietary practices during clinical communication.

Although the participants did not differ in their expectations of physicians’religious competence based

on age, educationallevel, employment status and incomelevel, they differed based on their frequencies

of visitingdoctors and their ethnic/cultural origin.

Originality/value –This study fills a gap in the literature by advancing understandingof religious competence

during clinical interactions from female Muslim immigrant patients’ perspective. Thefindings can contribute to

developing religiously competent and accessiblehealth-care services for religiously diverse populations.

Keywords Immigrants, Islam, Religious beliefs, Clinical health communication, Female Muslim patients,

Religious competence

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

With rising global migration, health-care professionals face the challenge of providing effective

and appropriate care to patients from diverse backgrounds. Cultural differences and language

barriers have been found to impact clinical interactions between patients and health-care

providers (Alizadeh and Chavan, 2016). Muslims living in western countries (rapidly growing

minority population) often face challenges and barriers when trying to access health care (Ganle,

2015). These barriers include socioeconomic status, language, religious beliefs and cultural

values. There must be an increased level of awareness among health-care providers to

adequately meet the unique needs of this population and provide appropriate health-care

services (Inhorn and Serour, 2011). While limited research exists on the health-care needs of

Muslim immigrants, health-care issues faced by Muslim women living in western countries are

rather unknown. The scant extant literature underscores the importance of considering the culture

of Muslim immigrant women and how it impacts their health-care issues (Palomares et al., 2020;

Simpson and Carter, 2008), health-care implications for providers’ lack of knowledge about

Islamic culture (Tsianakas and Liamputtong, 2002) and the significance of culturally sensitive

Rukhsana Ahmed is based

at the Department of

Communication, University

at Albany, State University

of New York, Albany, New

York, USA. Yuping Mao is

based at the Department of

Communication Studies,

California State University

Long Beach, Long Beach,

California, USA.

Received 20 February 2022

Revised 13 September 2022

Accepted 24 October 2022

Rukhsana Ahmed has been the

recipient of Grants to

Co-Investigators Research

Program under the Religion

and Diversity Project, a Major

Collaborative Research

Initiatives (MCRI) of Social

Sciences and Humanities

Research Council (SSHRC).

She would like to thank the

Religion and Diversity Project at

the University of Ottawa, an

MCRI of SSHRC, Canada. She

would also like to thank the

research assistants, and, most

importantly, the survey

participants for their time and

sharing their experiences.

PAGE 16 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OFM IGRATION,HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE jVOL. 19 NO. 1 2023, pp. 16-27, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1747-9894 DOI 10.1108/IJMHSC-02-2022-0020