20.500.12556/RUL-187840 Diversity awareness, diversity competency and access to healthcare for minority groups perspectives of healthcare professionals in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia Introduction: Due to cultural, language, or legal barriers, members of social minority groups face challenges in access to healthcare. Equality of healthcare provision can be achieved through raised diversity awareness and diversity competency of healthcare professionals. The aim of this research was to explore the experiences and attitudes of healthcare professionals toward the issue of social diversity and equal access to healthcare in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia. Methods: The data reported come from semi-structured interviews with n  =  39 healthcare professionals. The interviews were analyzed using the methods of content analysis and thematic analysis. Results: Respondents in all four countries acknowledged that socioeconomic factors and membership in a minority group have an impact on access to healthcare services, but its scope varies depending on the country. Underfunding of healthcare, language barriers, inadequate cultural training or lack of interpersonal competencies, and lack of institutional support were presented as major challenges in the provision of diversity-responsive healthcare. The majority of interviewees did not perceive direct systemic exclusion of minority groups; however, they reported cases of individual discrimination through the presence of homophobia or racism. Discussion: To improve the situation, systemic interventions are needed that encompass all levels of healthcare systems – from policies to addressing existing challenges at the healthcare facility level to improving the attitudes and skills of individual healthcare providers. access to healthcare healthcare inequality health services cultural competency public hospitals ethics diversity disadvantaged population zdravstvena oskrba javno zdravstvo dostopnost ranljive skupine kulturne kompetence etika true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-09-15 09:05:01 2026-09-15 09:05:02 2026-09-17 03:42:10 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2023 0 0 16 str. art. 1204854 Vol. 11 Jul. 2023 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 613.9:39(4) 2296-2565 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1204854 160918531 RAZ_Ramsak_Mojca_2023.pdf RAZ_Ramsak_Mojca_2023.pdf 1 BA83B33C7FEF4C740293B53195D767D0 c66b70b0345a151ae4efa018892b5440461c380916f556114ba641d5ebe19b52 b1576932-b0d6-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247628 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1204854/full 1 bf14dfc7-b0d3-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247624 Medicinska fakulteta 0 0 0