Communicating Health Rights to Disadvantaged Populations: Challenges in Developing a Culture-Centered Approach For Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel

Abstract

Knowing about one's health rights can be critical for obtaining equitable and appropriate health care. A model drawing on a culture-centered approach was used to develop and present health rights information materials for a disadvantaged cultural minority—the Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel. The model is based on the supposition that the design of health rights information materials should address both concerns and barriers identified by members of the cultural community and illustrate specific means to address them. Stories of community members' actual experiences served as the basis for several types of narratives presented in video clips, a photonovella, and an illustrated booklet. More than 100 people participated in the study in five focus groups and 50 personal interviews. Findings indicate participants felt the materials developed using this approach were informative and represented their concerns and cultural barriers to realizing these rights from their perspective and would help motivate them to realize their health rights. The analytic process, which involved members from the cultural community, resulted in the identification of dilemmas associated with the development of solution-oriented materials that draw on the culture-centered approach. These dilemmas pose additional theoretical challenges to the culture-centered approach.