"When I feel safe, I dare to open up": immigrant and refugee patients' experiences with coproducing healthcare

Objective: Interest in the coproduction concept in healthcare is increasing. According to coproduction, services are, unlike goods, always coproduced by a user and a service provider. This study explored how immigrants and refugees perceive the coproduction of their healthcare service in clinical encounters.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with thirteen patients with varied backgrounds and health problems. Participants were purposefully recruited in an interdisciplinary clinic for immigrants and refugees at a Danish University Hospital. Interviews were transcribed, anonymized, and analyzed using meaning condensation.

Results: Patients emphasized the importance of a safe space where they could be themselves and feel supported. This encouraged them to be open and assume an active role in the coproduction of their health. A stable therapeutic alliance based on kindness and kinship helped them find strength and take responsibility for their own health.

Conclusions: This study improves our understanding of how immigrants and refugees experience the coproduction of healthcare services. Further studies, evaluating long-term outcomes of coproduction efforts, are required.

Practice implications: Providing a safe space in which health professionals have time to listen and empathically validate immigrant and refugee patients' lived realities, can enable patients to open up and become agents of their own health.