Health and care services to older immigrants - Protocol for scoping review

Summary

The proportion of older immigrants is increasing in Norway. Studies show that this group has poorer self-reported health and lower use of health services than the rest of the population, and they experience barriers to healthcare which may lead to unmet healthcare needs. We lack knowledge about available research about health and care services for older immigrants. Thus, we will conduct a systematic scoping review of research in the field. A scoping review maps and narratively describes the existing knowledge base in a specific topic area.

To identify relevant studies, a librarian will search in international databases and grey literature sources. We will include primary studies published between 2012-2022 about health and care services for older immigrants. Two researchers will independently screen titles and abstracts from the literature search, and thereafter the full texts, for eligibility according to the inclusion criteria. Next, we will appraise the risk of bias/methodological limitations of the included studies from the Nordic countries. One researcher will extract data from the studies and a second researcher will double check the extracted data. From the included studies, we will sort and combine data in text and create tables and diagrams when relevant.