Experiences and Expectations of Russian Immigrants of the Finnish Healthcare services

With the growth of the Russian speaking diaspora in Finland there is a need to investigate their health care related needs together with experiences and expectations of the Finnish health care services. The aim of the thesis is to identify the experiences of Russian immigrants of Finnish health care ser-vices. The purpose of the thesis is to provide information on the specific needs of the clients to im-prove the healthcare services. The research question of this study is “What are the experiences of Russian immigrants of the Finnish health care services?” The theoretical basis includes evidence-based theories on cultural diversity concerning health and illness as well as investigations of healthcare habits and attitudes of Russian immigrants in Russia, Fin-land and other countries towards the represented health care services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three interviewees recruited through snow-ball sampling. The recorded data was transcribed and analyzed by means of thematic analysis. Through studying this topic and the data we developed an understanding of different perspectives of barriers in accessibility to health care services in Finland. In future when caring for representatives of this diaspora the staff is better equipped in identifying and addressing possible challenges and obstacles of this customer category when it comes to their access to health care services in Finland. The customers can be educated in better understanding the approaches to care in Finland