How do patients with a Turkish background evaluate their medical care in Germany? An observational study in primary care

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of patients (n=472)*

Characteristics	Number	Percent
Sex
Men	220	46.6
Women	252	53.4
Age, years
18–40	226	47.9
41–59	175	37.1
≥60	47	10.0
Highest level of education
No school attendance	15	3.2
“Grundschule”, primary school	121	25.6
“Hauptschule”, secondary school	93	19.7
High school	195	41.3
More than high school	41	8.7
Nationality
German	105	22.2
Turkish	357	75.6
Self-reported residence status
Limited	45	9.5
Unlimited	406	86.0
Self-reported language abilities
Excellent	127	26.9
Good	98	20.8
Medium	194	41.1
Poor	46	9.7
Very poor	5	1.1
Number of visits to a general practitioner (per year)
1–4	189	40.0
5–8	129	27.3
9–12	78	16.5
>12 times	65	13.8
Start of seeing a general practitioner
Less than 1 year	45	9.5
Between 1 and 4 years	126	26.7
Between 5 and 10 years	142	30.1
More than 10 years	146	30.9

Note:

* n varies due to missing values.

Table 2 Characteristics of general practitioners (n=17)

Characteristics	Number	Percent
Sex
Men	13	76.5
Women	4	23.5
Age, years
<40	2	11.8
40–49	4	23.5
50–60	6	35.3
>60	5	29.4
Nationality
German	8	47.1
Turkish	9	52.9
Mode of practice
Solo	12	70.6
Group practice	5	29.4
Location of practice
≥15,000 inhabitants	14	82.4
<15,000 inhabitants	3	17.6

Table 3 Evaluation of care by Turkish patients (n=357)

EUROPEP questionnaire	Percentage of all patients (n=357)*	Percentage of patients with good or excellent German language abilities (n=153)*
Relationship and communication
1. Making you feel you had time during consultations	49.3	42.5
2. Interest in your personal situation	57.4	53.6
3. Making it easy to tell about your problems	57.4	49.7
4. Involving you in decisions about medical care	51.8	48.4
5. Listening to you	69.2	64.1
6. Keeping your records and data confidential	73.4	70.6
Medical care
7. Quick relief of your symptoms	49.3	43.8
8. Helping to perform your normal daily activities	51.3	44.4
9. Thoroughness	66.4	58.2
10. Physical examination	67.2	60.8
11. Offering you services for prevention	59.1	54.9
Information and support
12. Explaining the purpose of tests and treatments	63.0	58.2
13. Telling about your symptoms and/or illness	64.1	57.5
14. Help in dealing with emotional problems	54.1	49.7
15. Helping understand the importance of following advice	55.2	46.4
Continuity and cooperation
16. Knowing what has been done during previous contacts	54.9	47.7
17. Preparing what to expect from specialists	54.3	45.8
Facilities availability and accessibility
18. The helpfulness of the staff	59.4	50.3
19. Getting an appointment to suit you	62.7	55.6
20. Getting through to the practice on telephone	63.3	58.2
21. Being able to speak to the GP on the telephone	46.8	41.8
22. Waiting time in the waiting room	31.1	28.1
23. Quick services for urgent health problems	69.9	52.9

Note:

* With answer 5 (excellent).

Abbreviations: EUROPEP, European Project on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care; GP, general practitioner.

Table 4 Turkish patients’ perspective on care: a comparison of Turkish and German GPs

EUROPEP questionnaire	Nationality of GP				P-value*
	German		Turkish
	n	Mean (SD)	n	Mean (SD)
Relationship and communication
1. Making you feel you had time during consultations	108	4.0 (1.10)	346	4.14 (1.07)	0.18
2. Interest in your personal situation	108	3.96 (1.31)	347	4.31 (1.07)	0.009
3. Making it easy to tell about your problems	109	3.99 (1.36)	342	4.40 (0.90)	0.009
4. Involving you in decisions about medical care	106	4.08 (1.18)	333	4.30 (1.02)	0.06
5. Listening to you	108	4.22 (1.20)	351	4.52 (0.90)	0.02
6. Keeping your records and data confidential	108	4.25 (1.26)	343	4.59 (0.93)	0.007
Medical care
7. Quick relief of your symptoms	107	3.96 (1.31)	337	4.16 (1.17)	0.15
8. Helping to perform your normal daily activities	106	3.93 (1.32)	338	4.20 (1.17)	0.04
9. Thoroughness	107	4.22 (1.17)	348	4.50 (0.86)	0.048
10. Physical examination	109	4.25 (1.13)	346	4.52 (0.89)	0.03
11. Offering you services for prevention	107	4.06 (1.26)	336	4.43 (1.01)	0.002
Information and support
12. Explaining the purpose of tests and treatments	105	4.18 (1.23)	335	4.46 (0.97)	0.02
13. Telling about your symptoms and/or illness	106	4.19 (1.18)	348	4.51 (0.88)	0.006
14. Help in dealing with emotional problems	106	3.82 (1.52)	342	4.30 (1.11)	0.003
15. Helping understand the importance of following advice	107	4.06 (1.31)	337	4.41 (0.88)	0.03
Continuity and cooperation
16. Knowing what has been done during previous contacts	105	3.98 (1.37)	343	4.34 (0.95)	0.06
17. Preparing what to expect from specialists	108	3.90 (1.43)	331	4.31 (1.13)	0.005
Facilities availability and accessibility
18. The helpfulness of the staff	108	3.95 (1.28)	337	4.34 (1.20)	<0.001
19. Getting an appointment to suit you	107	3.92 (1.32)	346	4.33 (1.22)	<0.001
20. Getting through to the practice on telephone	109	3.90 (1.34)	340	4.37 (1.16)	<0.001
21. Being able to speak to the GP on the telephone	107	3.57 (1.57)	319	3.95 (1.49)	0.006
22. Waiting time in the waiting room	107	3.41 (1.39)	338	3.68 (1.38)	0.04
23. Quick services for urgent health problems	109	4.00 (1.46)	340	4.39 (1.13)	0.005

Note:

* P<0.05.

Abbreviations: GPs, general practitioners; SD, standard deviation.

Table 5 Associations of the study population characteristics and the five domains of EUROPEP on language abilities (results of the linear regression analysis, under specification of standardized β-coefficient, α=5%)

Associated items	β-coefficient	P-value*
Domains of EUROPEP questionnaire
Relationship and communication	0.027	0.728
Medical care	−0.016	0.841
Information and support	−0.175	0.039
Continuity and cooperation	0.193	0.005
Facilities availability and accessibility	0.031	0.585
Practice and GP characteristics
Type of practice	0.060	0.212
Nationality of GP	0.024	0.617
Sex of GP	−0.074	0.132
Age of GP	−0.115	0.018
Patient characteristics
Sex	0.106	0.009
Age	0.496	<0.001
Number of visits to the GP per year	0.177	<0.001
The point of time patients started	0.004	0.926
seeing a GP
R^2	0.352

Note:

* P<0.05.

Abbreviation: GP, general practitioner.